my blog. for you.

Let’s talk digital.

I’m an independent IT consultant and entrepreneur in the Internet and software business. I’m interested in design, enterprise applications, web apps and SaaS products. I design and develop business solutions and applications. I help companies in terms of software quality and knowledge transfer, e.g. with Angular and Spring Boot.

Transcendence

Having watched the film Transcendence recently I thought I'd use this opportunity to write a bit more about how the singularity might come about and how it might look like. I have a bit of a problem (to say the least) with the film's overarching anti-technology stance. Then again, the Luddites in the film are terrorists who aren't above killing humans for, well, preventing machines from killing humans. I suppose logic and reason have never been strong points of terrorists, both in ...

How the Singularity Might Actually Look Like

Scott Adams of Dilbert fame recently posted an intriguing article on how the robots will take over (to be taken with a pinch of salt, of course). His point is this. Assuming that the singularity indeed is near and ruling out any Terminator Skynet scenarios - because those are boring and inefficient: How might the first post-singularity artificial intelligence try to control its environment both for its own benefit and humanity's - assuming that there's some sort of incentive or inherent moral imperative ...

Sunday May 25th, 2014 by Bjoern in Ideas

Life, The Universe And Everything

The Egg - a short story by Andy Weir - provides an intriguing perspective on cosmology (that as someone told me more or less corresponds to Kashmir Shaivism) I'm not sure if the Buddhist term kōan technically applies here but this certainly is a tale made to both confuse and delight. As stories that question your world view go, another interesting one is The Last Question by Isaac Asimov. A bit longer but also very much worth the read.

Sunday February 23rd, 2014 by Bjoern in Ideas

Closer than you think

I've recently finished reading Avogadro Corp by William Hertling and the sequel A.I. Apocalypse. These books deal with the idea how artificial intelligence might come about today or in the near future. The story's main premise is the eponymous Avogadro Corp, a hardly disguised Google. This company, whose name is conveniently related to a large number as well, offers a wide range of Internet services: Search, web-based office suite, web-based eMail (AvoMail ...) and its own smartphone OS (AvoOS). Sounds familiar? The story ...

Sunday January 26th, 2014 by Bjoern in Ideas

Don’t Break the Chain

Having now managed to write at least one blog post per week for over a year, something I resolved to do in order to both reflect upon ideas, events or interesting products and technologies as well as hone my writing skills, I've recently read that the notion of getting things done by doing them regularly following a disciplined pattern is Jerry Seinfeld's Productivity Secret: He [Jerry Seinfeld] said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put ...

Sunday January 12th, 2014 by Bjoern in Ideas

Von Jugendwahn und Altersstarrsinn

Sorry, this entry is only available in Deutsch.Es scheint seit jeher Sitte zu sein, dass sich die Alten in einer Gesellschaft über die faule und nichtsnutzige Jugend ärgern. Das Gejammer über die arbeitsscheue und hedonistische Jugend ist groß: "Die heutige Jugend kann sich nur noch amüsieren und hält nichts von Arbeit." "Die heutige Jugend beschäftigt sich nur noch mit Videospielen." "Die heutige Jugend treibt sich nur noch auf Facebook rum." "Wir leben in einer Spaßgesellschaft." Wer kennt solche oder ähnliche inhaltsleere Sprüche nicht? Zudem wird der ...

Sunday December 22nd, 2013 by Bjoern in Ideas

Le Petit Prince

A few days ago I once more read Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. I read that book more than 15 years ago in French class and it made some impression on me back then. Turns out it still does. While technically a children's book it holds a lot of wisdom. In taking a child's perspective towards life the book's quite telling as for many aspects of everyday life we usually put up with without questioning their sometimes utter laughableness ...

Sunday November 17th, 2013 by Bjoern in Freemasonry, Ideas

Autumn

Today's autumn equinox, which made me remember a speech from the terrific, yet unfortunately short-lived TV series called Space: Above and Beyond. Though corny in its 'We're going into battle tomorrow morning." kind of way back then it made quite an impression on me and still does:

Sunday September 22nd, 2013 by Bjoern in Ideas

The Tinfoil Hats Were Right All Along

There sure is a lot to rant and be angry about concerning this week's revelations about PRISM and how the US government has been issuing blanket orders to tech companies such as Google, Facebook and Apple requiring them to hand over personal data, effectively allowing agencies like the NSA to spy on all of us. These events mark a turning point for the way of how citizens are treated by their government and the legal system. While until now the presumption of ...

Sunday June 9th, 2013 by Bjoern in Ideas

The Gentle Seduction – A Short Story About The Singularity

The Gentle Seduction by Marc Stiegler - originally published in Analog Magazine in 1989 - is an intriguing story about how the technological singularity might come to pass. It's based upon Ray Kurzweil's and Vernor Vinge's concepts of accelerating technological development and exponential growth (see law of accelerating returns). While I'm not sure about the singularity myself - there sure is a 'rapture for the nerds' aspect to it - the story makes for a compelling read. It deals with issues related ...

Sunday April 14th, 2013 by Bjoern in Ideas

Björn Wilmsmann

my blog. for you.

Let’s talk digital.