Concerned about looking like a fool in a digital age?  Enter Brad Pitt with pointers on tech etiquette.  The Hollywood superstar is on the cover of Wired as a Mr. Manners for technology.  Who is more qualified that one of the coolest guys around to offer tech advice on hot topics including “Facebook Faux Pas, Twitter Tribulations and Blogging Blunders?”

Actually, in typical Brad Pitt fashion, he offers statically suggestions on how to behave in a tech world.  And in typical Hollywood marketing tradition he is promoting his upcoming Quentin Tarantino film, “Inglourious Basterds”.   But some of his tongue-and-cheek recommendations are really funny.

Here are just a few examples:

Brad Pitt’s advice for talking on your cell in a pubic restroom:
“No, you can’t talk on the phone!  Do you want the guy next to you to hear your entire conversation?
That’s why you should only text in the bathroom. Just be sure you don’t hit the wrong button and end up putting a photo of your junk on Twitter. Trust me, you don’t want those followers.”

Here’s what Brad has to say when ask if you should confess if you “exaggerate” about your salary on an online dating profile.
“Hell no, everyone lies online. In fact, readers expect you to lie. If you don’t, they’ll think you make less than you actually do. So the only way to tell the truth is to lie.”

To those who live in the alternate reality of online gaming:
“Who cares if your ‘Warcraft’ wife is really a dude – if it’s good, don’t check under the hood,” Brad says.

And my personal favorite, Brad’s advice on why you should not make emergency calls on your cell during a movie:
“It may be a brief interruption — just a few seconds — but what if someone sitting near you is trying to make a decent bootleg? Did you ever think of that? Now all those street-corner copies are permanently defiled by your so-called ‘emergency,’ don’t be so damn selfish.”

The August 2009 Wired magazine with the rest of Brad’s sage tech guidance hits the stands July 21, 2009.

Technology and the Web have given the First Amendment freedom-of-speech an upgrade.  Call it Freedom of Speech 2.0 or Freedom of e-Speech.  But there are cyber-nuts out there who try to ruin it.  Let’s exercise our right of free speech and label them e-idiots, and then quit listening to them so they can’t spoil it for the rest of us.

And good example is the MySpace suicide case.  Lori Drew is a 49 year old O’Fallon, Missouri woman who used a fake MySpace page to extract revenge on Megan Meier, a 13 year old girl who supposedly said bad things about her daughter.  She did this by setting up a fake MySpace profile of a 16-year-old male named “Josh Evans” and showed interest in Megan.  Once she got Megan’s attention, she used her Josh avatar to cyber-bully Megan.  The once amorous messages turned harsh and cold saying things like, “You are a bad person and everybody hates you…The world would be a better place without you.”

Megan responded by committing suicide by hanging.   She was taking medicine for depression before this online assault.  My condolences to Megan’s family for their loss.

A jury of her peers found Lori Drew guilty of three misdemeanor charges.  However, this past week a California judge overturned the conviction because it is constitutionally vague, especially in respect to freedom of speech.

I do not profess to understand the technical legal issues of this case.  And on the surface, one can see how this Lori Drew woman can stand behind the free speech clause.

So I am going to practice my freedom of speech and can call Lori Drew an idiot!  A stupid, stupid, e-IDIOT!  I am not cowering behind a fake online profile, but saying this adult to adult.  You should be ashamed of your self and it is people like you who spoil this great and wonderful liberty for the rest of us.

When our founding fathers forged this great doctrine they knew that with great power comes great responsibility.  I’m sure they did not intend for us to use this freedom to act like a bratty teenager.  But when those of us in adult-land see this type of misuse it behooves us to point it out and then more on.

So enjoy your Freedom of e-Speech, but enjoy it responsibly.

Stem cell treatments are moving forward with amazing promise, if you are a dog or a horse.  But for us humans, stem cells are caught in the political machine, much like the rest of health care in the USA.

Stem cell research has been a tale of two technologies in that it has exited the medical community yet inflamed political forces.

On the positive side stem cell research has ignited promise for treatment of cancer, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injuries, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, and muscle damage, amongst a number of other impairments and conditions.

The vortex of controversy swirls around embryonic stem cells taken from human embryos in the early stages of development.  To create these stem cells requires the destruction of an embryo and considered by some (mostly anti-abortion groups) the taking of a human life.  It is important to note that stem cell research has others forms (often called adult stem cells) that do not involve embryos thus not taking a life by some people’s sanctity-of-life values.  Nonetheless, this debate has put a stigma on the entire stem cell discuss.  However, adult stem cell treatments (NOT embryonic) have moved ahead in animals with some awesome results.

Instead of getting into a medical dissertation, take a look at this video about how adult stem cell treatments have been used successfully on dogs.

Another famous case involves a racehorse named “Be A Bono” who won 16 out of 24 starts, earned more than 1.3 million in prize money, and was the 2004 World Champion Quarterhorse after a stem cell treatment.

While I am happy for the animals of the world, it is a bit unnerving that there are no videos on YouTube (that I can find) with heart touching stories of people who where helped as a result of adult stem cell treatments (once again, emphasizing not using a human embryo).  I can’t help but wonder if our ongoing political screaming matches debating embryonic stem cells are drowning out the cries for help thus stifling progress in the entire stem cell arena, at least for us human beings.

I’ve often said that we have a lot to learn from our animal friends, and this seems to be the case with adult stem cell treatments.  Let’s hope that some of the recent changes in the political winds for stem cell research will blow away the dogma (sorry, but you know it had to be said) and open our eyes to our brothers and sisters in need.

The latest thing with the cyber-generation is…hugging.  But some see this as a dangerous trend.  WHAT!  So why the war on hugs?

As the online generation comes of age there has been much speculation about how they will turn out.  This is a generation that doesn’t know a world without the Web.  They all have cell phones, mastered texting, and created a new form of flirting called “sexting”.  For those not hip enough to know about sexting see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexting.
Their music is downloaded and they listen to it on MP3 players or iPods.  Email is almost considered quaint preferring to communicate via social networking with sites like MySpace and Facebook.  They multitask and are ADD with even their basic cable packages packed with 60 to 70 channels.  There has been much concern that this bombardment of technology will yield a generation that is cold and distant lacking in even the most basic etiquette…like using a fork.

But not to worry.  What are the kids doing?  Like a perfectly choreographed song and dance routine from a High School Musical they are breaking out in spontaneous hugging.  Bet you didn’t see that coming.  (more…)

Something about this video made me laugh!   Matthew Fox and Jimmy Kimmel in a staring contest with some lipdubbed Peter Gabriel.  Enjoy!

If you use social media such as Facebook is it okay to defriend?  What about ignoring a friend request?  Keep in mind that when you interact on a social networking website you are not interfacing with a machine, but with people with real feelings.

So keep in mind that real people with real feeling are attached to those profiles.  I am not going to try to be your mama and tell you have you should behave in cyber-space.  But I would like to offer some simple reminders of things you should already know.

In the biology of technology equation, I have always found it interesting that we often hide behind technology to avoid the reality of the human condition.  When we are buffered with a layer of technology we feel more liberty to be less human and more animal.  Traffic is a good example.  Whenever you cut off a car in traffic in reality you are cutting off a person.  Because, you know, people drive those cars.  If you cut someone off at the mall you might at least utter “excuse me” instead of blasting an obnoxious horn or flashing the finger.

Here are some things to think about for social networking relationships. (more…)

I have been and shall always be a Star Trek fan.  There, I said it.  And while Trek tech is cool, it’s more about the biology than the technology that makes Star Trek soar.  The new Star Trek movie energizes my geek brain with all that cool gadgetry, but the heart of Trek is about relationships.  The real power and hope is that we not only see a possible future with technology that meets our every need, but that we use this technology not to blow each other up, but to help each out.

There has been must attention given to the fact that the gee-whiz technology from Star Trek has inspired real life innovation.  It is easy to see how Bluetooth is a descendant of the iconic wireless earpiece Lieutenant Uhura wore.  And the flip phone is so much like original series communicator.  “The fun in Star Trek didn’t come from copying science, but from having science copy it,” wrote Leonard Mlodinow, a former writer for the “Next Generation” series and former physics faculty member at CalTech, in the April 25 issue of Newsweek. “My job wasn’t to put real science into Star Trek, but to imagine new ideas that hadn’t yet been thought of.”

Other out-of-this-world technologies seem galaxies away such as transporters and faster-than-light warp drives.  But who knows!

It has always been my contention that technology solves problems.  But I have always found it interesting and even disturbing that we have made huge medical advancements for treating conditions such as malaria, asthma, and infection, yet millions across the globe still suffer and die without treatment.  As Spock would say, “It is not logical.”

(more…)

Here’s a cool clip that shows a neat merger of technology and art:

Okay, it’s a commercial for Sony.  But you have to give it points for it not being an in-your-face ad leaning more on creativeness than ravenousness consumerism.

I know usually focus on the technology side of the Biology of Technology.  However, this video was so moving I had to post it.
At a time when so many use the high sounding doctrine of “personal responsibility” as an excuse to look the other way, here’s a good Samaritan story from our animal friends.

So the next time you are willing to throw someone under the bus even if they made a not-so-smart decision, remember this little guy who put compassion first.