[ExI] bug singularity: was RE: internet camping

[spike]

>... On Behalf Of BillK
Subject: Re: [ExI] internet camping

On Tue, Jul 16, 2013 at 3:03 PM, spike wrote:
>> ... Is this a great time to be living or what?
> ... a computer allows a prole to learn many 
> wonderful things about the birds, bugs, beasts and plants that are 
> available in realtime to be examined and observed...spike


>...The UK is having a two week heat wave with temps of 82F-89F every day
and no rain...

89F, oh the humanity.  

I don't get comfortable until it gets at least mid to high 80s F.  The Brits
are likely enjoying the sight of young ladies everywhere breaking out those
fun outfits that only come out when it gets good and warm.  It's one of the
big reasons why I love California: we get a lot of days like that.

>...Even the pasty-white Brits are going brownish now...BillK
_______________________________________________

Think of it this way BillK: that pasty-white skin is what allowed Brits and
Swedes (my ancestors) to survive on so little sunlight.  The skin produces
vitamin D and perhaps other essential nutrients with just a little sunlight.
I understand the trend in research is that this complexion did not evolve
from some arbitrary mate-selection mechanism, but rather was absolutely
necessary for survival in those dark climates way up there in northern
Europe.  I don't know if it is true, but I have heard that way down in the
southern tip of Africa, lighter skinned humans were there, before the
northern Europeans up showed.

Regarding internet camping, it occurred to me that Google glass would be a
terrific camping companion.  Perhaps we could rig an app which would do some
sort of image recognition, so that a prole could gaze at a plant, bug or
beast, then have Google figure out what species it is, then come back with
interesting commentary about it.

Anyone here may have seen a previously-unidentified species but never knew
it.  New insect species are discovered regularly, but how many of us know
our bugs well enough to recognize an unidentified species even if it bit us?
I wouldn't, and I have been a bug watcher most of my life.  

Some species are just rare, even if well-known.  I have seen porcupines in
the zoo, flattened on the road, but until yesterday I had never even seen on
in the wild up close.  Apply that observation to bugs: it would require an
expert entomologist to recognize some oddball thing.  How many expert
entomologists are there?  How many of them love to hike in the wilderness?
Speculation: there are only a few hundred or perhaps a few thousand proles
on the planet capable of doing such a thing as identifying new species.
Sooo...

If we had an app which could use our externalized corporate memory, we would
have an explosion of understanding about insects.  We could have a
nano-singularity in that discipline.  What a great time to be alive!  We may
get to witness a bug singularity, ooohhhh this is sooo cool.  {8-]

spike