The first day of Pop!Tech was rich in thought provoking ideas from lessons learned in Darwin’s theory of evolution to generative systems in gaming, the parallel between current computing power and the human brain, the role of technology in theatrical arts, the documentation of one’s life through online data, the current energy crisis and the rise of a new green, solar power or the material revolution to name a few. We also had a great piece of jazz music from Jason Moran. And you must go to the Pop!Tech site to watch the epic acoustic rock of Gabriela and Rodrigo.

And it was great to have a drink yesterday night with Ze Frank and Kent at Askaninja...

I thought I would share a few of my thoughts from today’s meeting.

Dangerous idea #1 – Brian Eno, the ambient music pioneer and technological innovator, had an amazing analysis of the fundamental principle of Darwin’s theory of evolution: complexity (e.g. our civilization) comes from simplicity (e.g. a single cell). A revolutionary concept that we very often forget in our professional life. He also highlights that Darwin found a matrix and language, in which all life can be connected – a very powerful concept that we don’t have in other areas such as arts. Darwin’s theory also highlights that there is not a privileged point of view – humans are increasingly irrelevant and tiny in the universe.

Dangerous idea #2 – Will Wright, the gaming guru, explained the emergence of generative systems to enable expressions of personality and co-creation by game users. The gaming industry is faced with skyrocketing design costs, but at the same time players love creating. In parallel, computers are able to track players’ skills levels and aesthetics preference and customize the gaming experience. Will shared a future view of gaming (which is implemented in SPORE), in which computers can analyze simple generative systems, used by players to match capabilities and gaming experience that were the realm of game designers. I strongly believe that the development of generative systems is one of the most misunderstood fundamental underpinnings of the web 2.0 model.

Dangerous idea #3 - Kevin Kelly, the founding editor of Wired Magazine, shared an interesting parallel between the worldwide web and the human brain. The trillion links on the web equals the trillion synapses in the brain. The quintillion transistors equals the number of neurons. If you extrapolate this data, the web will exceed the entire humanity in processing power by 2020-2040…

Dangerous idea #4: A former subject of an intensive FBI investigation post 9-11, Hasan Elahi is developing a network device, GPS tracker, and website that will make his exact location continuously available to anyone with access to the Internet. He also photographs every meal he has and every airport he goes through or sleeps in!

Dangerous idea #5: Tom Friedman (The World is Flat) shared a thought provoking graph that shows an inverse correlation between the pace of freedom and the price of oil – what he calls the “first law of petropolitics”. Lester Brown, the global environmentalist, showed that China was already consuming more than the US in almost all basic resources. If China catches in consumption per person for car ownership, they would need more oil than the world produces today….

Read also Ethan Zuckerman's blog post from today.