The proposal is to give unchecked power to the executive to buy and sell as they see fit.  Ludicrous.

Last time I was talking about Reputation Systems.  That plays nicely into my ideas about integrating the world.  This post (obviously I should at some point formalize these ideas, but for now a blog entry will do) was triggered by Cisco’s announcement they want to give your fracking thermometer an IP address.  I read that on Slashdot.

Without further ado:

Someone, please think of the objects!

Your thermometer should not be directly addressable as what amounts to a top-level object.  It should be a node in your bedroom or kitchen.  It may be directly addressable, but for many tasks it makes more sense to negotiate object operations through an intermediary controller.  This is how many distributed systems work.

I’d really like to see a system where “ad-hoc network-aware object networks” (ANONs) get built.  They would require (in my view) two things:

1. Controller-enabled units
2. Announcement-enabled units

Controller units are those that have the ability to be elected or appointed as the directly-addressable node in an area.  These might be things like your computer, your AV receiver, or a dedicated unit.  There would be one in every room, one in your car or in your seat on the bus/train/plane.

Announcement units are any devices that wish to participate in the network.  These are the thermometers, the kerosene lamps, the microwaves, and so on.

This is the basic operation of a distributed system.  Election will be held if there are multiple controllers.  If there is no controller then and only then should minor devices be directly addressable.  There is also the possibility that a phone may operate as a controller in that event.

And the reason I mentioned that this is related to the reputation system is that each device will have a reputation and then each operator will have a reputation.  This is done to help manage access control.

Cisco’s idea of giving everything an IP address could be augmented with this sort of system, but ultimately it is less about the direct networking and more about the devices having the capabilities rolled into them to behave as members in a fully integrated network of objects.  That is the starting point that Cisco and other companies should be taking, rather than (finally) recognizing that objects should be networked and starting with “okay let’s give them an IP address.”

What a bunch of crap.  I hope they lose and he gets attorneys’ fees out of them.

Oh, and the truth about the RIAA.

The ISO appeals process has failed with regards to the OOXML standard.  A process that fails should be scrapped.  Time for a new standard for standards.

More oil is bad business for the USA.  Offshore drilling is a dumb idea.

I believe limited investment in biofuels makes sense purely because of the volume of combustion engines that exist and may continue to be used for a long time yet, but even these are pure dinosaurs.

The future lies in electricity generated from clean technologies including fuel cells, solar, geothermal, wind, hydro, and more solar.  Electric motors are far simpler beasts than combustion engines.  They are quieter, more efficient, more robust.  While there are some technological hurdles, they have a lot going for them.

We need to stop focusing so much on oil.  The current oil prices are down, but the respit from pain is not a good reason to hug the barrels.  We need to reduce our oil use by 50% by the year 2015 or we risk continuing the current economic cycle that has been going on for more than 60 years.

The new cycle if we get serious about shifting our economy to better technology that requires greater R&D but greater payoffs would be a boon for the next 100 years at the least.  Our old way of doing things has a much slower and choppier growth pattern which perpetuates a lot of industries that do more harm than good.

The bottom line is that if you want your children to live in a world with the same old problems (and the over 9000 lb. mutant zoo animal in the room, the melting of the poles) you can choose oil.  If you want a better world, there are better choices.  I’ve made my decision, personally.