by M.Spiropulu
About a year ago Neil Gershenfeld
(MIT Media Lab) gave at Fermilab a colloquium on Molecular Quantum Computation.
At the end of his lecture and after the question period, people inquired about one of his other projects
at the Media Lab, the Things that Think . A remarkable program that looks at which level the human can use technology as an everyday accessory
much like the shoe you wear but a smart one much like your computer. And it also
takes it another step : the technology accessory is able to atttend to its needs, access
other objects and detect the nature of its environment.
At this request Gershenfeld showed us a video clip of a "wearable
computer" fashion show at MIT .
Some time later I visited the Media Lab and talked to the students working there. Gobs
of creative thinking and things that soon will be able to think, impressed me and
when I left I thought I had just travelled to the future and back.
Now Neil Gershenfeld published a book "When Things Start to Think". If you read the book
send a review to Acqua alle Funi.