Sunday 20 March 2016

Open speeding data

Rather than only get feedback from a speed camera when the speed limit has been exceeded, why not provide a website where all speeding data is published, allowing drivers to log in and see how close they got to breaking the speed limit, and providing email warnings when drivers are close to exceed the speed limit.

Thinking with a cool head

It would be interesting to test whether people do think more clearly when they have a cool head (e.g. actively cooled down with a cool pad). And if so, develop a productivity had that maintains the head at the optimum temperature.

Periscope glasses

I would like a pair of glasses with dynamic periscopes attached that would track the TV whatever my head position. Such glasses would need to have a camera and image recognition functionality, together with actuators to rotate and swivel the mirrors in the periscope.

Semi-strong agnosticism

Whilst strong agnosticism states that "I cannot know whether a deity exists or not, and neither can you", and weak agnosticism states that "I don't know whether any deities exist or not, but maybe one day, if there is evidence, we can find something out", I propose a middle ground: semi-strong agnosticism.

Semi-strong agnosticism states "it is probably the case that I cannot know whether a deity exists or not, and neither can you, but there is a possibility that my mental model of the certainty of information is flawed, and hence there is a possibility that it is possible to know for certain whether a deity exists or not".

My belief in strong agnosticism stems from my general stance on what I can know (I first thought this after spending some time thinking about Descartes' I think therefore I am):

That which I perceive exists, but I cannot know the nature of its existence.

So, I perceive myself, but I cannot know the nature of my existence, for example I cannot know whether I have free will. I perceive the world around me, but I cannot know whether it is real, a dream, an illusion or a simulation.

Hence, I may perceive a deity but given that I cannot be certain that I'm not in a dream, I cannot be certain that the deity is not merely a figment of the dream.

However, I have to accept the possibility that my general stance on what I can know might be wrong, and therefore have to accept the possibility that there could be some kind of mathematical proof of the nature of what I perceive, and hence of a deity.