Sunspots (We Crawl By Inches)

"Before assuming these phenomena are [sun]spots, which would suit us, let us first set about proving that they are not - fried fish. We crawl by inches. What we find today we will wipe from the blackboard and reject it - unless it shows up again the day after tomorrow. And if we find anything which would suit us, that thing we will eye with particular distrust. In fact, we will approach this observing of the sun with the implacable determination to prove that the earth stands still, and only if hopelessly defeated in this pious undertaking can we allow ourselves to wonder whether we may not have been right all the time: the earth revolves."

-Galileo, as imagined by Bertolt Brecht (thanks to the Red-Haired Radical for the quote)

See also: Symphony of Science's "We Are All Connected"

The Computer at Play

It is easy to think, in this era of short attention spans, that modern technologies such as motion- and touch-sensitive screens and networked gaming are new innovations. In fact, they have been around for more than 40 years. In this video, interface pioneer Myron Krueger demos his Videoplace system, which prefaced many other forms of creative interaction with computers.

As Myron says, most uses of personal computers are utilitarian, and many people experience significant difficulty interfacing with them due to a lack of emotional, visceral connection with the machine. Videoplace provides a truly creative sandbox experience, allowing two people to play intuitively using a shared space.

The recent announcement of Google Wave gives me great hope that these innovations will continue to bring intuitive communication and play to people of the future.