Social networking platforms?

Thanks to Mike, saw a talk at the Berkman center about SocialPhysics by John Clippinger. (Also had a yummy free lunch!) His idea of instantiating communities with a template of behaviors called a "culture" is pretty intriguing, and the paper he links to about the economic and biological aspects of trust is interesting.

Mmm, smart art

Martin let me tag along to a panel at Art Interactive coinciding with their exhibit called eVolution. Sadly, one of the pieces wasn't working and another one wasn't on, so I'll have to go back later. The two I did get to see were pretty interesting, and the talks were thought-provoking if somewhat repetitive of things I've heard before. It occured to me that both reality television and art with artificial life in it are both fascinating because the creator establishes a set of rules and then sets the thing free to produce unpredictable results. At best, he can control the presentation of what happens. The guy from Art Interactive thought that the key was that both appeal to our desire to play God and be voyeurs, but Christiane thought that evolving art was really appealing because it was interactive (although so is some reality television, I'd argue) and that reality television was fundamentally different because what we were watching were people instead of simple rule followers. Still, you have to wonder, if reality television has led to the decline of the sitcom and hour-long drama, will evolving art supplant deterministic art?

Ah

This blog is now protected by MT-Blacklist! Stupid comment spam. Many thanks to Jay Allen, though. I was rather impressed by how the people with drug-related spam flocked to the drug-related entries, though. Those spam people sure are smart. I wonder if the new Moveable Type authentication system will work out.

Feedpaper

What a smart idea! You can easily imagine feedpaper taking on the character of those Amazon recommended reading lists. Now if only this were integrated into Bloglines, I might find myself forced to switch ;-).

Fun trip to New York

Apart from dragging my bag around most of lower Manhattan, an awesome extended weekend. Will's Aero bed was very comfy. I saw Erik in 131, which was really fun. Zanza Bar was also pretty cool, and Carl introduced me to Olive Tree. People in New York seem to be busier than people in other cities. It's very weird. Writing this reminds me that I never wrote about my trp to the Bay Area - among other things, I ate brunch at Stacks with Vince and Albert. Hmm, I should get a digital camera one of these days.

Obviously it's been a big web surfing night for me

Smoots explained!

Although the choice is now obvious...

...this candidate comparer comparison is pretty interesting.