Thursday, April 20, 2017

Do we use only ten percent of our brain?  Yes!

The first question is how much of our brain do we actually need to function.  A French tax official that suffered from hydrocephalus had only about a quarter of his damaged brain left, and that part was damaged.  He clocked in at 75 IQ, managed to hold down a job at the tax office, and had a wife and two kids.  (Links below)

That being said, if he had four times the amount of brain matter, could on have an IQ of 300?  Possible, but how can we get to IQ 1000?  And yes, I know there are some problems with the IQ concept, but please bear with me.

How about adding perfect memory to that mix?  Jill Price has a memory, that won't fail.  Add in the abilities of acquired savant syndrome such as music savant, art savant, and mathematical savant, and yeah, we only use ten percent of our brain provided we can get this to work.

Ah, but can we harness one hundred percent of the brain?  We haven't yet and unlikely to.  But in the future with nannites we can.  Something like using nannite coprocessor to enhance the brain's function, some refined electronic brain simulation, and perhaps increasing the flow of nutrients and removal of wastes (including heat) might work.  IQ 1000 here we come.

So what would IQ 1000 would be like?  Not forgetting names, important stuff, and you know, when the next day you realize that you should have said some great idea or one-liner.  You did, and kicked yourself for not saying something even more awesomely brilliant. New ideas and increased creativity will be the norm.

Never underestimate the potential of the human mind.



25 percent of the brain
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/size-isn-t-everything-tiny-brain-no-problem-for-french-tax-official-a-495607.html

Tiny brain 2
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12301-man-with-tiny-brain-shocks-doctors/

Top end IQs
http://www.wonderslist.com/10-most-intelligent-people/

Oh, wait.  We are potentially only using ten percent of our brain. 
Perfect memory
https://www.wired.com/2009/03/ff-perfectmemory/

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/290796/human-memory-capacity-is-ten-times-larger

Acquired savant syndrome:
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-02/when-brain-damage-unlocks-genius-within#page-9

Electrical Brain Simulation
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160414095949.htm

More EBS
http://www.vocativ.com/417576/navy-seals-neuro-stimulation/

Thursday, February 23, 2017

First Contact, Language, and Space Aliens

First Contact

Why do we think it is hard to communicate with space faring extra terrestrials?  Sure, we cannot truly communicate with dolphins, whales or birds, but then again we have not spent billions on interspecies communication.

Look, space aliens, if they have the intelligence and experience to get here, they would have the technology to do reconnaissance.  They probably will have some experts and ultra fast computers or better to decipher our language and figure out a safe way to conduct a first contact.

When your life is at stake, would you want more information before going into that situation?  Presumably, space aliens are like that as well.  Learn the language, study the earthlings, and spend a lot of time, brainpower, and money (if they have money) on learning our language.

Therefore, before we develop interstellar drives, we should spend billions of dollars to develop interspecies translation, because, we will need the practice and the technology.

Any aliens trying to make peaceful contact will probably ask to dock with the international space station, and then ask for a diplomatic recognition, then call a press conference.  You know, act like people with average or better intelligence, I assuming we will, if we would be doing the first contact.

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Totally Accurate Battle Simulator (TABS)
Open Alpha  0.3.617 Review

TABS are a fun, tongue in cheek, fighting simulator that can cover the single warrior to company sized units using a humorous cartoon style physics engine.  The units run from the unarmed peasant to the M-16 armed militia, with many strange units like the Chicken Man, Trump, and Hillary thrown in for good measure.

However, this game does simulate incompetence, goldbricking, apathy, and confusion quite well, better than any other tactical game on the market and doing a very amusing job at that.  However, the units always fight to the death every time except when they chase each other in an endless circle. 

In this game, each unit has a point cost, then you buy your units, place your units, and then you fight it out.  So far, I am having a blast.  I rate this Alpha 7 out of ten.  Now for the tactical spoilers:








All units have a purpose; however, I have favorites mostly based on my biases.  I prefer to field a line of melee troops that is slightly wider than my computer opponent is, so that the line wraps around and flanks my enemy when my troops impact the enemy’s line.  If I have more points I generally I use the points to thicken my line. 

Therefore, I prefer to spend my points on cheap units for the bulk of my army such as farmers, and if that fails, barbarians.  Oh, and I love headbutters (yes that's one of the unit types) to rush ranged units.  Sometimes I place one or more ranks of peasants in front to soak ranged attacks, especially chickens...

On the flanks, generally I get 0-6 archers on each wing to finish off broken troops since they do not include cavalry in this game, just chariots, and I do not like chariots.  However, for the final battle, I use a line of spear throwers instead of archers; to slow down their "tank" so that my farmers can finish it off, though I do not get a reliable victory, I need to polish up my final level 20 battle tactics.

Gaming with a friend, we found a new tactic that works even better.  Archers in single file on the wings with nothing in front of them since their middle name is friendly fire, with peasants in the middle.

And since this is an alpha, a lot more changes are coming, and I am looking forward to it.

Bonus Feature for use in sandbox play:
10 chicken men vs. super peasant (chicken fountain)
10 cannon (packed close together) verses 300 peasants (cannon fodder)
Spear throwers (equal points) verses any of the big units (Thar she blows)

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

The James Bond Vodka Martini Shaken, Not Stirred Controversy.

In my experience most experts have said to get your martini stirred, not shaken.  Sure, sounds reasonable, but everyone is not the same and I sometimes disagree with the experts and to some extent common sense and good judgment.  So, it's testing time.  Going down to Buffalo Wild Wings, I conducted my taste test there. 

Both drinks look identical.  The shaken:  It was noticeably colder, which I like, and smoother because of the melted ice.  The stirred:  Was thicker and had a lot better flavor. 

I like cold and smooth over flavor.  Huh.  I guess that I'm a barbarian and am going to side with James Bond.  Bond had it right in my humble option.  So, always try things especially when it comes to taste, you may find out that you may disagree with the experts.