March 15th, 2005
Applied Minds ‘remixing’ at Etech
This morning at Etech, Danny Hillis blew minds with a taste of the consulting and design work done at his current venture, Applied Minds. He showed pictures and video of six and four-legged mobile robots, including one in the form of a snake that moved exactly like one. Sure,”it’s possible to make computer simulations”, he commented, but bringing it to life “gives it a practical” feel. He also showed a hi-tech SUV with an interior reminiscent of a fighter jet cockpit.
He said projects like the SUV are fun and are used to show clients what his company is capable of, but they of course also working on serious matters like software for analyzing the blood of cancer patients to help build customizable drugs.
Next he showed a short video from a map makers convention where he literally brought many to tears (map enthusiasts turn out to be geeks too) with his demo of an electronic map that can be controlled using his hands.
Hillis ended his talk with ideas about where the Internet is headed. He sees the world of publishing (blogs, wikis, APIs) evolving into the “MetaWeb” where information is contained in sharable public databases, ushering in the era of remix culture.
