Mr. Kurzweil, first let me say thank you for your work and very interesting books. I want to ask your thoughts on why we don't see any evolved life in the universe. From your work on the Singularity it seems clear that the process of evolution into hybrid life forms or even digital ones is a future step for us carbon life. If this process occurs (which it appears to be), and given the amount of possible Goldilocks planets in the universe, and the 13+ billion years of evolution, why are we not seeing an overwhelming amount of visitors, or at least "others out there". And how do you align this apparent gap with your theory of the cyborg evolution?

because its like the cannibal who lives next door that no one suspected.... You don't expect a mild-mannered reporter to be Superman and you don't expect a soft spoken well educated affable scientist to be that nuts... Its inconsequential but relevant to our own wonder at why the hell would he take that step/risk.

Interesting.... so you would suggest using Voice?

But the sample size it not 1. The article is claiming two things: CC thickness is correlated to Intelligence (which the article should have backed up with references), and two: Einstein's CC was thicker then normal. It is thus drawing a rather thin correlation to a correlation. But the sample size is not 1 because the article is not trying to say that since Einstein had a large CC and was intelligent, then CC thickness must mean higher intelligence.

This is not about perception it is about facts, and correlation. Fact: Einstein had a much higher then normal/average intelligence. Fact (but not well understood or even well researched so I would call it a weak fact): thicker corpus collosum is correlated to higher intelligence. Fact (according to one study which measured the thickness of Einstein's corpus collosum using photos): Einstein's CC was thicker then normal. Ergo, there could be a connection between Einstein's CC and his intelligence (if that correlations prove true in the long run).

maybe that they are more intelligent. I'm not trolling, I'm somewhat serious. I also don't think correlation means more then just that: correlation (like ice cream and drownings), but it could. So lets stay open and keep looking for answers.

all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average... The Lake Wobegon effect is good for something, no?

no. The sample size which his brain is being compared to is much larger. He is the not the sample size, he is being compared to the known correlation of intelligence and corpus collosum thickness. Check it on google to find more research results.

it is just correlation, not a causation. That is a much higher bar to clear.

I've read a lot about neuroscience discoveries and interesting abnormalities and didn't know the direct correlation between the corpus collosum thickness and intelligence. Ok, so when someone claims something like this article I think - bah... another stupid claim about Einstein. But this time there is some merit to the claim. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2754582/ And yes, his other brain differences were know for a while, so this seems to be a new revelation based on new evidence of the correlation and the discovered photos.

It sure doesn't read like TOR was compromised. It was the Gmail account DPR left when first advertising SR on a shrooms site. The FBI (if they aren't just covering for the NSA) do seem to have caught DPR through old fashioned sleuth work. Yes, they managed to copy a server but they still couldn't get the names out of it, only link the messages and transaction dates to other events they tracked down to DPR after tentatively identifying him using Gmail, Google+ and LinkedIn. Ouch.

So does it restart, shut down or turn on the webcam and start up chat roulette? I can think of a few gestures done regularly in front of a PC.

I thought the /. community was better educated. Oceanography has nothing to do with most of the questions asked. Acidification, yes! Sharks, not so much... I missed the original question phase, or we would have had a few more on point questions: 1. What do you think about geo-engineering. Do you think its plausible, if not possible to artificially target open ocean prochlorococcus growth as a way to increase CO2 absorption, and if so, what do you think the risks would be? 2. The recent work in Infrasound and its deleterious affects on marine mammals, along with the Navy's heavy use of the thermocline for underwater communication all point to a dark future for whales. Do you have any thoughts on what to do, or how to avoid/rehabilitate these areas in the same way that the endangered species act helped their overall populations?

There are hundreds of free-for-download Access Control software packages which will read the serial number from a RFID card. You don't need to go through the trouble of building a new package. The hard part is that most good AC systems don't use the serial from a smart card, they use one of the sectors on the chip. This is usually locked with a PKI method of encryption and thus much harder to break. He mentioned HID, which uses their own proprietary PKI (such as Legic does), but there are many standards such as DESFire which are open and manage access to the chip sectors. What the article is really talking about is normal 125MHz prox cards which are not secure and yes, widely used in the USA but not in Europe. The real way to crack even the HID encryption is to get behind the reader and capture the Wigand (text) output from the reader which does the encryption handshake for you. Watch out for tampers, but its not hard in any interior space, just look in the false ceiling for the controller and tap in where the cables enter it. Much easier then all this non-sense.

hah... RTFA on myself