Where are the transhumanists who will settle for current technology? Transhumanists seem to be waiting for some unspecified date when we will have jetpacks and nanobots and neural interfaces. Yet we can already improve our bodies somewhat. Consider hearing aids. Directional microphones let you focus on people around you and tune out background noise. Dentures are better than our teeth. So why do transhumanists use their own teeth and ears?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Monochrome at 10:37 PM on June 4, 2008 (21 comments)

When was the past better than the present? I'd like to know the word or phrase that describes the romanticism people have of the past, e.g. "In those days, children respected their elders!". I was watching the documentary Born Rich and Cody Franchetti mentions that the encyclopedia was better in the early 20th century. Why? This feeling that "old ways are better" is not exactly nostalgia, because often people expressing this sentiment didn't actually grow up in this utopian past. But their feelings toward this time are exactly like nostalgia.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Monochrome at 1:06 AM on May 6, 2008 (16 comments)

What is the name of the design language used for Apple products circa 2000? Jonathan Ive designed the iSub, the Cube, the Apple Displays, etc; all of them share a lot of plexiglas surrounding light-colored plastic (if there is any color). This "look" is cohesive enough to be called a design language, but what specifically is the clear-and-maybe-white motif named? More importantly, where else can it be found?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Monochrome at 8:34 PM on March 18, 2008 (16 comments)

Data analysis, brought to you by Big Blue, is following a trend. Data has never been more social. Geeks and statistics groupies used to be isolated, but the internet is changing that. Ever pine for a pile of Excel spreadsheets? Have you tried running an ANOVA on a year's worth of traffic data? You're not alone. New sites add sociability to cold hard facts; take a look at the "YouTube for data" or IBM's Many Eyes. Both sites induce squeals of delight from anyone who's ever felt Tuftian. What's next? One word: infornography. Please, keep your Standard Deviation jokes to yourself.
posted to MetaFilter by Monochrome at 10:43 PM on January 25, 2007 (16 comments)

I would like to relocate the forum post that described when pitchforkmedia.com was "hacked" last fall. Normally I would attempt to locate it myself but my Google-fu has not been helpful. The forum was a community of people that disliked Pitchfork. The title of the thread in question was something along the lines of "when pitchforkmedia.com/1up becomes pitchforkmedia.com/2up" and it was where someone had merely found a directory containing private emails of the Pitchfork's chief. Can you help me find that thread again?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Monochrome at 5:57 PM on May 23, 2005 (10 comments)