The Important Thing

This is simply a collection of ideas that have been rolling around in my head for awhile and needed to make it onto the page. Everything from self-learning computers that don’t go out of date, to a vision for ecological responsibility free from government enforced rules, to datacenters built in the desert to become free of the grid.

1. Digital brains that self-grow like coral and organize. No formal training period as they learn in real-time, and consolidate periodically. Could be implemented with nano-bots working on a silicon substrate. Elegant and beautiful at the same time.
2. Solar powered datacenters in the Nevada desert for AI and other compute tasks. Much easier to implement and maintain than datacenters in space or on the moon.
3. Acapella music groups for children (that could even include guitar lessons, for example) provided by grassroots peer-organized parents and children.
4. Mini-computers running social media, email, blogs and other services either on static IP addresses or running through DHCP interpretation, based out of homes. (Examples: Mastodon, Minecraft). No more SaaS.
5. AI web assistant in your ear (Jarvis) that is running on a home server. Could be implemented pretty easy today using existing hardware and open AI models. No cloud, no subscription, no data leaving your house.
6. How do you incentivize using recyclable or biodegradable products that don’t damage the environment or add to landfills? Incentivizing recyclable and biodegradable products through store-level reward programs, creative public education, and psychological research into how visible environmental damage shapes consumer behavior.
7. Modern silicon chips designed in a non-Von-Neumann configuration for neural nets. The memory and processing are co-located rather than separated by a dramatically slower bus. Behavior emerges from the architecture itself — spike-based and event-driven — cutting out unnecessary software layers. [Loihi 2][Seeker]
8. Computers designed to last centuries rather than decades, using solid-state memory and no moving parts. Sealed in a waterproof package that is non-biodegradable. Based on neuromorphic chips that are always learning and never go out of date.
9. Bring back the flip phone – smartphones in a flip phone config with small screens that rely on voice commands and hot buttons.
10. Smart-glasses that are provider agnostic, connect to a smartphone or laptop, and use small AI models for basic tasks. Eliminates subscription services and protects your privacy.
11. Self-driving cars that are sandboxed/air-gapped from the internet. Greater peace of mind and security. Planes navigate without live internet — it’s a design choice, not a technical limitation