Physics questions

One way to describe the effect of gravity on other masses is as a distortion in space time. Is it appropriate to use this analogy for understanding the geometry (from a magnetic particle's perspective) in a magnetic field?

Is it possible that some black holes could have a electromagnetic field so strong that no particle with charge could ever escape? Would the magnetic-event horizon for such an object extend beyond the gravity-event horizon?

Create open-source modular software that writes itself

Imagine a day in the future when you sit down at your terminal (or perhaps while taking a walk in the park?) and you can design your own software through a verbal user interface. Here's a story to try and explain what I mean.

While walking in the park...

You: "Computer, I would like to create a program today."

Computer: "What do you want your program to do?"

You: "I need it to process this data I'm collecting for my company and present it so that my employees will understand it."

Computer: "Do you mean the data set you collected yesterday at 2:35pm?"

You: "Yes."

Computer: "Do you want me to access the public code repository? There are some libraries there that will help."

You: "Yes, please."

Computer: "Processing, processing, processing. Done. Do you want to view your program?"

You: "Can you send it to my office so I can view it there?"

Computer: "Yes. Done."

Back at the office...

You: "Computer, bring up the program I started in the park."

Computer: "Now displaying."

You: "Okay, can you change the theme? I'd like it to be a bit more metallic. Use the Zen design principles please."

Computer: "Processing, processing, processing. Done."

You: "Hrmm. This isn't working quite as I'd like. Do you have a subroutine to allow them to edit the data at this point (points to screen) and add an overlay of the data in a visual timeline?"

Computer: "Checking public repository.... I have found a similar algorithm but it will probably need some minor changes. Would you like to use it and modify it yourself? The license allows you to use it for commercial purposes."

You: "Okay. I have a couple of hours here, I'll work on fixing that part of the code."

Computer: "Would you like to automatically share your code to the public repository?"

You: "Yes. Thank you, use the CC-BY-NC license."

I expect some day that most software will be mostly designed visually rather than written in text. Software libraries will exist in public repositories, and computers will assemble the code for us, rather than us assembling the code on a computer. Programmers will be more like artists, finding ways to combine algorithms and subroutines much like a painter assembling paint onto a canvas.

Digital objects should include an attribution meta tag

What if every digital object (photo, learning resource, website) had an attribution metatag?

In a similar way that encryption keys are handed out by a small number of parties, digital resources could be tagged with encrypted information which can be easily matched against a database to find out who created the object, but which would be difficult (impossible?) to fake.

The objective of these attribution meta tags would not be to make content rights easier to manage (although this would be a consequence), but to act to improve the reliability of online data and resources. It would also allow for searching for resources created by individuals.

Obviously such a system would be an opt-in system.

Intelligent refrigerator

Imagine you put your food into a re-usable container, but before putting it into your refrigerator, you scan it first, and when prompted, tell your refrigerator what it is (either verbally, or using text). Your refrigerator (or a small computer attached to the outside of it for "analog" refrigerators) records what you've entered into it, and the date and time you entered it. Every time you remove something from your refrigerator, you scan it on the way out, so that the refrigerator always has a record of what is inside it, and when it was placed inside it.

You could then ask your refrigerator (using voice-recognition software) what would be good to eat, and your refrigerator could also remind you that your food needs to be eaten soon. Further, if you also scanned in raw ingredients (and maybe did the same for dry goods stored in your cupboards/pantry), your refrigerator could recommend recipes. Your smartphone could have an app which was aware of the data from your refrigerator, and could act as a shopping list. Or, instead of an additional device on the refridgerator, each person who used the fridge could have the app on their phone.

I wonder how long it would take such a system to save you enough money from not wasting food so that it would be affordable?

Build presentation software that makes sense

I'm tired of PowerPoint, and I find Prezi's spinning and zooming hard to follow. I'm tired of having to use third parties tools to embed websites with limited functionality so that I can embed my gizmos in my presentation. The web has been around for more than 30 years; why does today's presentation software consider it an after-thought? Why is it so difficult to use hyperlinks to link within a presentation itself?

I want presentation software that will:

• Allow me to embed live versions of websites using whatever browser rendering software I choose.
   
• Allow me to edit the presentation on the fly, so that I can take notes during a workshop in my presentation.
   
• Allow my presentation to be streamed online (with audio and a webcam stream) using the same tool that I'm presenting with.
   
• Allow me to save the state of 3rd party software and include it in my presentation. Think of what you could accomplish with your presentation if you didn't have to flip between programs all the time.
   
• Suppress notifications from other programs. No, I don't want to know about that email I just got, and yes, I'm aware that I should have shut down my email in advance of my presentation, but I forgot, okay?
   
• Can I ask for any webcam stream to be included in my presentation? I'd love to be able to embed a webcam stream from a person on the other side of the planet, while I take notes or share images on their behalf on my end of the conversation.
   
• Allow me poll the audience (or embed a live chat) within my presentation itself. The audience is part of the presentation, not just a passive recipient of information, they should be included as much as possible where feasible.
   
• Make the presentation software easy to use. We need to write more software remembering that the people on the other end may not be experts in a wide variety of software. Every time I have to teach somehow how to use software it makes me frustrated because I know it is possible to build software that is more intuitive than what currently exists.
   

I'm sure I'll come up with some more features, but this is good enough for now.

Gödel's incompleteness theorems and human self-inconsistency?

From Wikipedia:

The first incompleteness theorem states that no consistent system of axioms whose theorems can be listed by an "effective procedure" (e.g., a computer program, but it could be any sort of algorithm) is capable of proving all truths about the relations of the natural numbers (arithmetic). For any such system, there will always be statements about the natural numbers that are true, but that are unprovable within the system. The second incompleteness theorem, a corollary of the first, shows that such a system cannot demonstrate its own consistency.

My question:

Is there a relationship between Gödel's first incompleteness theorem and the ability of humans to hold seemingly self-contradictory thoughts?

In other words, has our brain been designed in such a way as to allow us to prove as much as possible about the universe, and consequently we must hold some thoughts in a contradictory fashion; we hold an inconsistent set of axioms about the world, and so we can potentially prove anything about the world (although many proofs would be invalid, but to an inconsistent system, perhaps an invalid truth is acceptable?).

Modular cars

Imagine you get in your car, and drive it to the highway, where you pause for a moment to physically join with 5 or 6 other cars. Now you join the highway, which automatically moves your mini-train of cars at the fastest "safe" speed possible, before moving you off of the highway so that you can decouple from the other cars in your unit, and continue on your way to work.

There would be a few advantages of this system

1. The total energy cost of the system would be less, since the total drag (from the wind) on the mini-trains would be less than the drag on each individual car.
    
2. The mini-trains could run on tracks, which could provide the energy for them to move, and to recharge the batteries of the individual cars. It would help increase the range of an electric car, while simultaneously helping solve the problem of "refueling time."
    
3. It would likely decrease the number of fatal accidents that would occur on highways. Most accidents on highways are the result of operator error, which would presumably be greatly reduced with a computer at the controls. See Google's driverless car for an existing example of automated driving.

Create a brick and mortar university where every course is open

What would a university look like where every course was open and accessible to any interested student?

The whole reason we'd use a brick and mortar institution is to attempt to preserve as much of the structures of universities which are vital, in my opinion, to their position in our democracies. For example, I see universities as places where people with very different ideologies meet (and often conflict) and in online institutions, I think differing world views are quite often siloed from each other.

Imagine a place where students could drop in and attend lectures, learn how to use lab equipment, and access learning materials on demand, rather than on the administrative schedule of the university. Students would pay a flat fee to attend the university, rather than paying per course. The onus would be on the student to attend classes, and as many of them as they like, and as often as they like.

Students could meet with faculty advisors who could help them chart a course through the university. They could submit assignments to an assessment centre (digitally) which could give them feedback on their thinking. Students could use the information given to them by the assessment centres to guide their learning. As the students submit assignments and demonstrate mastery of concepts or skills, they could receive digital badges indicating mastery in a certain area. Collect enough badges, and you get certification. Collect more, and you get the equivalent of a degree. If a student failed to complete a degree, they could likely still demonstrate mastery of a subset of concepts.

The pace through the university could be self-directed by the student. Instead of focusing on the "four year degree," students could focus on mastery learning, and emerge from the university based on how much they've accomplished, rather than how long they've attended.

Students could move from a course which is too difficult for them to one that is more appropriate to their background without the expensive surcharges many universities use to discourage this practice. Courses could be structured to open on continuously enrollment, and given a large enough campus, Calculus 100 could start fresh every week. If a student attempts week 1 of Calculus 100 and doesn't get it, they could try it again, perhaps with a different instructor, or with more support, instead of having to wait until the end of the semester to restart the course.

Students could transfer between similar university systems using their badges as evidence of learning, rather than transcripts. Essentially, their assessments of their learning would be their transcripts rather than uncertain standards between different instructors.

While there are obviously some issues with this idea (I can think of a half-dozen objections to it off the top of my head), I'd be interested to hear how we could extend it.

Create a video instead of sending an ecard

My sister said to my mom, "We need to send an ecard to my son for his birthday." I suggested a video, and they loved the idea. We went around the room and each person said happy birthday. I then uploaded the video to Youtube, and marked it as unlisted, then sent the link to her son. I think this is a much more personal experience than one of those lame ecards...