spring break RG

aka the mensa event I attended this weekend... :-)

I had a good time, met some very interesting people. The speakers provided great insights into a wide variety of topics.

The sessions I attended were: crime scenes/forensics, Shakespeare's influence now, storytelling about life in Blue Ridge mountains, good and bad about humor, a short-story discussion of "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Court Reporting, claimants/pretenders to the English throne, implications of Moore's Law (the computing power of any given dollar amount will double every 18 months). I also watched/played a couple games Sat. night, and watched two of the Mensa Bowls (team trivia games).

The session that really intrigues me was the Moore's Law one. I already went into the library system online and requested several books on the implications of that. It is expected that in about 12 years a $1000 laptop will have the power of a human brain. But we're not just talking better computers. It is expected that by about 2035, most people will have numerous implants and nanobots that will: keep them healthy, allow them to access information w/o being in front of a pc, communicate with computers/people no matter where they are, etc. Running that theory farther - will it be necessary for a person to become "enhanced" just to compete? just to be "normal"? Will humans become so dependent on computers that we will not be able to function on our own? Will these implants be used as big brother watchdogs? Will people just begin to all think alike? So many many questions in my head. If you're interested, this is the book recommended most by the speaker: http://www.garreau.com/main.cfm?action=book&id=2