Category Archives: Ideas

random ideas that pop in my head…

I want a swarm of smart drones

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I bought my son a relatively cheap flying drone toy a few years back.  I thought it would be junk and more than likely, he would break it shortly after I gave it to him like some of the flying toy helicopters I bought him when he was a small child..  I was wrong in that assumption, and even now it is still a blast, but primitive in what it can be.

After my exposure to my son’s flying drone, I want a swarm of smart drones.  Smartphones are small, powerful, and light, but most importantly they are getting cheap like a calculator.  This means that the same technology could be morphed into a flying drone, and with good software, these smart swarms could be incredibly powerful systems in enhancing our lives.

In the movie Megamind, the writer already predicted the rise of smart drone swarms.  While real-world smart drones will not look exactly like the movie version, some of the intelligence and centralized AI control of each unit will be very similar.  I’m still amazed by the scene when the smart swarm made a 3D sculptor of Megamind’s face while flying in the air.

smartdrones

Below are a few of the smart drone swarm members on the right side of Megamind.

smart_drones

In the Simpsons, the writers always have Mr Burns saying “Release the hounds” on people… but what if a flying swarm of drones was your security system instead of dogs?  You could be sleeping, and these smart drones could be released into action by a nefarious trigger that could set them off.  Or potentially a few could be in the air at all times on a continually rotating schedule while the rest of the drones are resting and charging.  Some of the drones could record the offensive activity and even follow the perpetrators effectively taking photos and providing an instant video and audio stream to an online site (perhaps even directly to a future police monitoring system or security company) effectively tracking the potential criminals. A separate part of the smart swarm could attack the intruders.  Oh not with bullets but with pepper spray or some other nonlethal deterrents.  Such a system could almost guarantee safety through prevention or at least conviction of the captured criminals since the system would practically be escape-proof.  Bad guys beware!!!  I’m just scratching the surface of what smart drones can and should do!

A smart drone or swarm of smart drones could follow you at all times, shading you from the sun, rain, and even wind (it would almost be portable indoors if they could hold their change and provide climate control like a car) they could also serve as a portable nonlethal security system too.  Having such a system would be deterrent enough so the smarter “bad guys” would not even try anything against that individual.  I could also see the government using such systems at both local, state, and federal levels.  The concept of “Big Brother” in the book 1984 would pale drastically compared to the surveillance and algorithmic power of smart swarms that hook into a governmental AI backend.

When I think about it, with the predictive analysis of autonomous AI algorithms added to the system, the government could have the power to track and effectively micro-monitor practically every aspect of our lives.  Even George Orwell would be shocked at the surveillance depth such modern “Big Brother” systems could collect, especially when teamed with predictive analysis algorithms.

This article is long enough, but I’m just scratching the surface and keeping the concept fairly simple.  I think I will write more on this in the near term.

Thanks for reading my thoughts, 🙂

MR

Will Fully Automated Robotic Systems cause the Death of Capitalism?

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First let me say that Capitalism has been an incredible economic system for the United States, and really the heart and soul of all social classes in the United States, especially the middle class.  In fact, Capitalism has been such a hit that other countries want to join the party and as a side effect the are now growing vast middle class populations.  The success of the Western society’s Capitalistic model is the reason why both Russia and China morphed into a version of Capitalism with respect to their economics and politics.

Ala Wai Canal

So why am I saying that Automated Robotic Systems could cause the Death of Capitalism?

Because we have never had such an intelligent blend of artificial intelligence and mechanical systems!  My primary job isn’t even in the automation field, but I’ve been able to create automated systems that could reduce labor hours down from 40 or more hours into a mere 30 seconds or less.  Noting that my 30 seconds number is being very conservative and it should really take less than 10 seconds.  I’m not mentioning that I could have totally automated the system so it could happened without human intervention at all!

So again, “What does this have to do with the death of Capitalism?”

Well, we have intelligent (and usually centralized interconnected AI based) robotics systems doing a large part of it autonomously or very close to that point.  By this I mean that they don’t really need to be turned off because the AI (or some type of intelligence programming) can made decisions based on sensory, or timed data and literally just perform tasks when needed.  What is scary from a human perspective is that these systems don’t sleep, work literally 24 x 7, don’t eat, drink or any other human function.  They don’t mind if the work environment is too cold or hot, or too light or dark…  These systems are for the most part environmentally agnostic and will just plug and chug along until the break! The only thing they really need on a continuous basis is power and periodically some small maintenance which if done correctly means no downtime ever the process that it’s performing (business or otherwise).

To kill Capitalism, in the short and near team, it’ll take diverse and sometimes specialized automated robotic systems.  Such technological systems will harvest the energy, control the movement of the energy and even replace robotics systems that may be having issues (even before they do have issues using baseline performance data and predictive analysis based on mean time to failure for parts and the like).

You see, the thing is that robotic systems will continue to develop and for a lack of a better word, evolve into a complete economic model that potentially could completely negate the need for money.

If “smart” robots make the product (organic or inorganic), mine or make energy, and have robots that can maintain other robots, then is there really no need for money (or as much human labor), and if there is no need for money, then isn’t Capitalism dead?  Because money is the blood that flows through the heart of Capitalism.

If Capitalism isn’t completely dead, at least we might have a hybrid economic model where so much is free and just a few unnecessary specific items cost money.

Let’s say that one day the government (or somebody like Buffet or Gates) decided to buy property and the put in robotic gardening system that is wind, solar, or battery based to grow food, do up to the minute, day and night weeding and pest control, pick food and then finally transport food to the end target.  With mainly the upfront cost, we could have a perpetual system that is a completely free food supply process.  You could view it as a complete AI robotic ecosystem.

In the near term, we can definitely imagine some type of free electric (via solar, wind and/or battery) automated public transportation system that has no human involvement and takes people on a predefined route or even individualized routes.  These might even include some kind of security or robotic system to protect all riders of such a transportation system.

Lately my mind has been really spinning on the possibilities.  If you include virtual reality which enables the ability to visit other places and even do activities without even leaving home, then having money might not be all that important to most people in the near future.

This is why I believe the Capitalism might lose some of it’s luster in the next few decades.  I’ll be honest, it saddens me a little because I wasn’t born yesterday.  Because the children of the future might get most of the benefits of a truly “free” society that runs on intelligent robotic labor and systems.

Time will tell…

Don

 

Perils of Big Data or Beyond Big Brother?

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Technology is great!

I’m in the technology field and sometime I feel so empowered!  You can do anything with technology if you work at it, look at all the great smart phone apps that are in existence!  Who doesn’t love reading email or playing Candy Crush any place and at anytime?

But there is a dark, scary underbelly of technology and in particular “Big Data” that you should also be aware of.  And that is, you are being watched just like Big Brother, but much, much more scary!  You see with the much feared concept of “Big Brother is always watching” in the “1984” book by George Orwell, the invasion of privacy required someone on the other end to be watching.  Today is much worse because today, it’s possible to record every thing you do, say and where you go.  You have no privacy whatsoever and it’s stored!

In old days, email trails were something to worry about, then message system like chat, IM and the like.  These days, everything and everywhere you go you are being recorded and potentially analyzed.

No, it’s not a physical person analyzing your data.  Instead there exists sophisticated software and beastly computers that are doing the analysis (this folks is the power of “Big Data”).  Big Brother could and should be considered the algorithms that manipulate the huge databases of information (this is the “Big Data” part) that is being accumulated on you.

HAL

Hall From 2001

For example, Let’s look the iPhone 6, not only is it possible to determine where you have been historically, but it’s also possible to detect the rate speed you were traveling between endpoints.  So let’s say that the government wanted to tap into that rich data and potentially give you a speeding ticket… if they deemed it to be, they could.  Oh it won’t happen because of voters, but it’s entirely within the realm of possibilities.

Now let’s look at the Apple iWatch…  It’s even scarier to an extent.  It has the ability to monitor your body.  While there are obvious positives in doing so, there is also the opportunity for your system to be monitored for odd behavior, maybe elevated heart rate or maybe your alcohol content (via your sweat).  Let’s say that you are at some location like school and your heart rate gets evaluated for any reason, maybe you are running late to some appointment and you are getting nervous.  You could potentially be flagged in some “Big Data” system as a potential sex predator.  Oh you wouldn’t be arrested, but you would now be in the “likely suspect” database or be continuously monitored thereafter.  I’m not saying this is necessarily a bad thing, but it’s still worth knowing about, and knowing that it is possible!

Let’s say you are one of the “Bad Guys” in the world.  Well “Bad Guy” it’s going to get a lot more difficult for you in the future!  As computer, software, cameras, robotics and other specialized hardware become more stronger, cheaper and basically more optimal, you “Bad Guys” will find it much harder to do your “Bad things”.  The Cameras today capture so much more than they use to, and at high-resolution!  Soon, I wouldn’t be surprised if almost anyplace you go has a video system and cities have drones flying overhead recording stuff, not to mention all of the roads with such equipment to capture you car and license plate.  So if you traveling into a new city, or town, you could instantly be flag and tracked.  Again, this isn’t necessarily bad, but good to know..

A side thought is that as the cameras that are part of complex video systems, record you on your smart phones logging into various systems, well you are pretty much flat-out telling the camera owners your password.  Or at least giving the a huge leg up if they decide to try to hack into your programs by guessing your passwords.

There will be a lot of good from technology too, but I just want to mention what is possible as technology continues to advance.  I’m just scratching the surface.  For instance, I could have added a third element which would be predictive analysis, that based on your prior history (see my out of area car example above), Big Brother could predict where you should be at any given time.  Don’t believe me?  Has your credit card company ever called you asking if such and such purchase was made by you in a give location?  This is “Big Brother”-like algorithm detecting that you are out of state making a purchase when you shouldn’t be.  So basically both company and government Big Bothers are here and watching, we just don’t know how “Big” the Big brother are yet, but I will say that the code is from the most part pretty much unlimited in reach…

I’m writing this because article because some people might not realize the reach of the technology and to mention that fact that we are beyond the “Big Brother” version of yesteryear when George Orwell wrote his book.  While it’s not exactly the same, in many ways it is more invasive, in a sneaky hidden way.

Bests,

Don

Financial Thoughts Spinning in my Head

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Today, I thought I’d break out of my normal style of writing and openly think out loud the current set of financial thoughts that are spinning and bouncing around in my head.   All too often, we read a direct organized list of things to consider and while this will be similar, it will also me my thoughts as it directly pertains to me.

tornado

Taxes For Next Year

Okay, just sold a stock for an almost $4,000 capital gain (doh).  While this might seem like a positive (and it is really), it’s also a problem because I now owe 1k in taxes on the third day of the year, grrrr.

This in combination of the fact that my wife doesn’t withhold 25% of her earnings, and that I plan on making money this year from side income means I’ll have to take this into consideration from a Tax perspective.  Now I could save and file estimated tax payments 4 times a year, and this wouldn’t really be an issue, I’d rather not.  So to keep my lazy ways, I’ve decided to increase my withholds by $200 a paycheck from my primary employer.  This should cover the increased taxes that I need to save, and still give me some money leftover next year when I file my taxes.  Yeah, I know it’s stupid, but in this particular case, lazy trumps stupid.

Decreased Cash Flow Considerations

Well, I’m officially at the phase in my financial life where wealth accumulation is very important to me, and so in response, I’m channeling as much money from my earnings as I can into investments.  This will be a year-long battle, much like it was last year for me.  By taking $200 out of my paycheck per week, I may have to live a little more frugally this year than I did last year.

Kids 529 Thoughts

Time to increase my automated contribution amount for my kids 529 plans by another $20 per month this year.  $20 a month doesn’t hurt too badly, so this shouldn’t be noticeable (I hope).

I also need to make 1 direct contribution to a new mutual fund option in the 529 plan so that I can split the automated monthly contributions between the current “age based” option and the new “indexed something or other” option.

Investments

This year my mind is in a tug-a-war between dividend and growth stocks.  The ideal stock would be a solid growth company with an ever-increasing dividend.  I have a lot of things bouncing around in my head on this one.  I also need to invest 10k in a car debt experiment (more coming on that in future articles).

Controlling Consumption Spending

Life is short, too short to be too conservative with money.  So this is where the mission impossible theme song starts playing in my head, since I want to also spend more this year on fun stuff.  This might be possible if I actively seek out the best deals on things and/or increase my income by about half.  I guess, this is my stretch goal.

Making Money

I would very much like to increase my “employed” and “side” incomes by about 50% each.  To be honest, if I were to just increase one of them two distinct steams by 50%, I’d be pretty happy.

That said, I might also look for a new job.  I haven’t done a job search in years, but this feels like the year for me to put out the feelers to see what there is out there in the hard, cold, world (lol).  If I do get a new job, a lot of financial reworking will need to be done and a lot of the above thoughts go right out of the window.  But if I can find a job that fits me better and still pays a reasonable amount, I’m jumping!

Well, there you have my thoughts.  If you’d like to share some of your financial thoughts, please feel free to comment!

Here’s to the new year!

Don