Three TED talks came up in today's meeting.
1) The first topic was on synthetic life. In 2008, Craig Venter gave a talk at TED about his pursuit of synthetic life and why it is important. Two years later Venter announced that he had succeed.
2) The second topic was about the end of the Encyclopedia Britannica. It was no surprise since we now have Wikipedia which is free. What is surprising is that Wikipedia, which can be edited by anyone, was more accurate than Britannica, edited by a professional staff. We had a previous post about a TED talk by Jimmy Wales, which explained how quality is maintained.
3) The third topic was about trading algorithms and was recommended by Norm. Kevin Slavin's TED talk revealed the sophistication of today's Wall Street traders.
All three topics are about amazing new technology. But will they make our lives better or worse? Should we let them flourish, or should we take steps to control them?
Here's my opinion. Wikipedia should be used as a model for future social actions, a way for more participation in government. Computerize trading should be curtailed; a small transaction tax should end the abuse. As for synthetic life, it is too early to tell.
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