Neuroscience: Is Facebook Damaging To The Human Brain?

In a technology-driven world, can Facebook negatively affect Cognition?

British Neuroscientist Susan Greenfield, is one of many leading scientists who have suggested negative effects of social media to brain development.  However, she has caused some controversy by suggesting the rise in the use of internet and social media may be related to the rise in Autism.

I point to the increase in autism and I point to internet use. That’s all. Establishing a causal relationship is very hard but there are trends out there that we must think about.

The Future is Here: Graphical Engine of “Unlimited” Power In The Works.

Antikythera mechanism: The first ever computer made.

Reconstruction of the Antikythera mechanism in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens (made by Robert J. Deroski, based on Derek J. de Solla Price model)

At the beginning of the 20th century, divers off the island of Antikythera came across this clocklike mechanism, which is thought to be at least 2,000 years old, in the wreckage of a cargo ship. The device was very thin and made of bronze. It was mounted in a wooden frame and had more than 2,000 characters inscribed all over it. Though nearly 95 percent of these have been deciphered by experts, there as not been a publication of the full text of the inscription.

Today it is believed that this instrument was a kind of mechanical analog computer used to calculate the movements of stars and planets in astronomy. It has been estimated that the antikythera mechanism was built around 87 B.C and was lost in 76 B.C. No one has any idea about why or how it came to be on that ill-fated cargo ship. The ship was Roman though the antikythera mechanism was developed in Greece.  One theory suggests that the reason it came to be on the Roman ship could be because the instrument was among the spoils of war garnered by then Roman emperor Julius Caesar.

Snobbery amongst the PC community.

No caption needed.

The PC Snob’s stance is one of proprietary knowingness—the pleasure he takes in technology derives not only from the sensory experience of using them, but also from knowing more about it than you do, and from zealously guarding this knowledge from the cheesy, iPhone loving masses, who have no idea what a driver is, or how amazing it is to change their RAM. The PC Snob fairly revels, in fact, in the notion that Apple customers are stupid and ineducable, which is what sets him apart from the more benevolent computer buff, the effervescent, Tech Appreciative-style enthusiast who delights in introducing novitiates to the humble periods of Lisa and MS-DOS.

It’s World IPv6 Day. What’s all the fuss?

“Yeah! IPv6! Happy IPv6 Day! wait what’s IPv6?”

If you, like most people haven’t got an idea what’s going on, then look no further than Technogram.

What’s all this IPv6?

Well, IPv6 is the generation of Internet Protocol or IP (for short). We used to all use IPv4, however, the addresses were 32 bit. This meant that we were running out of IP addresses.

Good thing for IPv6, it is 128 bit. This means it offers a large range of IP addresses. In fact 2^96 times more than IPv4 (2^96 = 79228162514264337593543950336). Meaning the number of IP addresses will be virtually infinite.

What does an IPv6 address look like?

Like this! 2001:db8:cafe::1
compared to an IPv4 address 192.168.148.1

So what’s your point?

The IPv4 space is quickly becoming exhausted, necessitating the migration to IPv6.

You can read more about IPv6 in its Wikipedia entry or in the free book, The Second Internet. You can use IPv6 tunnels if your ISP does not offer IPv6 connectivity yet. Using http://test-ipv6.com/, you can verify IPv6 connectivity.

Why is there are day dedicated to the migration of IPv6?

Well, according NetworkComputing.com (an IPv6 site)

“A survey of IT professionals shows a lack of education and preparedness for the transition from the IPv4 system of IP addresses to the new IPv6 standard. The survey by Infoblox, shows that 80 percent of about 2,400 respondents feel that they are not educated enough on the subject to perform an IPv6 migration, half don’t know which of their network elements support IPv6 today, and 70 percent are concerned about whether they can successfully implement an IPv6 deployment.”

So a day has been brought forward by the Internet giants such as Facebook, Google, Akami, Yahoo, Cisco, etc to raise awareness and to educate people so that migration will be easier!

And there it is!
Happy IPv6 Day!