Book Review: ECHELON

The original plan was to start off the stream of Memepunks book reviews with this years Hugo Award nominees. But we were contacted just recently by the good folks at Random House, and offered a review copy of of a newly released speculative fiction novel. The theme of the book is government surveillance and data aggregation, two topics very near and dear to our hearts, so of course we agreed. With out further ado... ECHELON


ECHELON is the first novel of author Josh Conviser. The trade paperback weighs in at a 289 pages and retails for 13.95. Although it is a work of speculative fiction/sci-fi, ECHELON has it's roots in the US government's very real electronic surveillance program of the same name. That, combined with the current wiretap scandals and domestic spying programs coming out of Washington, makes ECHELON's theme very poignant.

The novel is set in a not so distance future where the government spy machine has long since graduated from the small potatoes of running any one particular country. Echelon is now a deeply secret almost legendary organization that directs the fate of the world by controlling the the flow of information. The populace live very safe, albeit completely controlled lives. But this isn't the Oceania of Orwell's 1984. There is no jack booted gestapo or shining faced Supreme Leader. Echelon dominates quietly, unseen by the huddled masses. They employ force either by manipulating global military powers, or through the use of highly trained well equipped covert operatives.

The book has some very noticeable flaws, but that is to be expected in a new author's first endeavor. Josh Conviser made his creative bones in Hollywood and that is apparent in much of the writing. The dialog descends into witty banter more often than it should, and combined with the adrenaline soaked action that ensues, the book has a very cinematic feel. Some of the action scenes go over the top or beyond the levels of believability without needing to. For instance, the addition of a Nitrous Oxide element to an already harrowing escape sequence. In addition, occasional instances of Conviser's prose piles up the descriptors to a point that borders on melodrama. He also falls victim to a couple of rookie writing habits, such as using a reflective surface to trigger a characters description.

But the good points of ECHELON greatly outweigh its faults. First off, the characters are what really pull you into the story. The two leads are a duo of Eschelon operatives. One, Ryan Laing is a spy/commando who is augmented with some bleeding edge nanotechnology that makes him super human and nearly indestructible. He begins the story as a gung-ho field agent with a collection of gear that would shame batman. His partner/controller is Sarah Peters, a young but gifted hacker that is constantly immersed in the global flow of data. She is a much more "human" character that is often literally in the back of Ryan's mind. The two of them develop as the story progresses, and their plights succeed in keeping you in the action and turning pages. The supporting cast includes the fatherly Christopher Turing (his name no doubt a tip of the hat to the man himself), head of Echelon. The shadowy administrator Jason Sachs, who oversees Echelon's daily operations and dirty work. And David Madda, Echelon gadget man, a 21st century hybridization of James Bond's Q and Max Headroom's Bryce.

Through out most of the story, you are unsure of who exactly the heroes are, and seeing as all of this is coming from the perspective of a globe controlling intelligence agency, it begs the question are any heroes at all. One of the initial hang ups I had with ECHELON was the moral ambiguity of it. While settling into the book, everything was filtered through the eyes of the Echelon organization. But once things really get moving, not only does Conviser land on solid ground, but he does so without preaching or getting heavy handed. This made the initial skewed perspective even more prevalent to the story.

Truly globetrotting, the settings are varied and interesting, ranging from luxurious wine country, to far east wasteland, to tropical paradise without missing a beat. Reference to adventurous sports abound, including fencing, kayaking and rock climbing scenes. And the technology often takes center stage without stealing the show. Characters are equipped with sonic weapons, lasers, combat suits, railguns etc. Josh has a thing for next generation vehicles too, including hovering "coil bikes", gyroscopic "wheels" that work like supped up Embrios, and even a submarine that can break the sound barrier by traveling within it's own air bubble.

But some of the technology becomes far more than nerd candy or clever plot devices. The nanomachines within Ryan's body are a story element all their own, and a very good one. Conviser paints a unique picture of invasive nanotech, disquieting without being alarmist. The "Flow", which is the virtual reality representation of the collective computer networks of mankind, is much more than window dressing. Indeed, the Flow is the central over riding element of the story, being both the means of Echelon's control, and the proving ground for the worlds future.

In the end, there were two salient points I took away from ECHELON. One is the old debate about security vs. freedom. Something that is now more important than ever. Conviser makes an end run around the choice itself, as to whether we should give up one for the other. Instead, he presents us with a future where the powers that be are more than willing to make that choice for us. The other was the leap that Conviser makes from the old school of cyberpunk. ECHELON demonstrates that the future is about much more than connectivity and information. The real golden apple isn't the machines or the bits inside of them. It's about the dissemination of the information, the aggregation of the data into something useful, or misleading or powerful. We are beginning to leave behind the age of information and move on to the age of relevance and understanding. ECHELON has fun telling us that it just might be a bumpy ride.

Well done Mr. Conviser. As first novels go, you've come through with flying colors. We at Memepunks are already waiting to read the next one. 3.5 Memestars.




"Thousands can see it. If they can't tell millions, it doesn't exist."
"Truth tempered by dissemination" - ECHELON

Taste the Future

There is something prehistoric about human beings eating meat. Despite our cultural advances, when it comes right down to it, a steak is still the result of a slaughtered cow and some fire. The problems with the historical meat model are many; Diseases like mad cow, famine in places that lack substantial farming, the health factor of fatty meats, not to mention hordes of dead animals. A small percentage of the population work themselves out of the equation by foregoing meat entirely. However, most of us still like a good steak or a juicy hamburger now and again, not to mention a chicken wing or a slice of bacon. So why is the meat business still struggling with the industrial revolution while other major commodities are already moving to hyper industrialization or new models entirely?

Part of the problem is the "ethics" of meat. The other hurdle, like with the farming of food crops, is that some people simply have an aversion to science encroaching on their dinner table. But despite a few stumbling blocks, there are some people working to bring meat out of the dark ages. The first tentative steps were taken over a decade ago in Europe, when Marlow developed a product called Quorn. Quorn is relatively new in the states, but Europe has been enjoying it for years. It's remarkably like chicken, but contains no real meat at all. Quorn is actually mycoprotein, derived from a previously obscure fungus and fermented in massive bioreactors for your dining pleasure. It may not sound appetizing, but I am told that Quorn is far more like real meat than any other substitutes, and loads more "authentic" than products made from soy.
I will be picking some up after posting this article and giving Quorn the Pepsi challenge.

Wired covered Quorns emergence into American kitchens back in 2002, and results were mostly positive. There was a dust up over Quorns original claims that it was made from mushrooms. But a quick look at their website tells you that the makers of Quorn are now proud of it's high tech mycoprotein roots. But although Quorn solves some of the problems with the meat model, it's not really playing by the rules. Deliciousness aside, although similar to meat, products like Quorn and the new Valess are still just synthetic meat substitutes. So where are the T-bones of he future?

They are currently taking shape inside Dutch bioreactors and labs in Maryland and Hawai'i, if New Harvest has anything to say about it. The Dutch government recently allocated $2.5 million for research into growing real meat from cell cultures on an industrial scale. Lead by Professor Henk Haagsman of Utrecht University, the dutch team is attempting to grow minced pork meat from pig stem cells in mass quantities. They predict successful results by 2009. In Hawai'i, Tissue Genesis' vice president of engineering Paul Kosnick, believes that with the proper funding a vat grown meat product would be possible within five years.

Jason Mathery, director of New Harvest and a doctoral student at the University of Maryland, envisions scores of industrial bioreactors. Some for producing the originating stem cells, some for producing the medium that the meat will have to be grown in, and some actually growing the meat in thin sheets to be layered into finished products. This would eliminate all of the overhead of running an old school animal farm. And in fact could take place inside any suitable structure from first cells to final product. No longer would the third world have to worry about good grazing lands or diseased animals. And test tube meat is an order of magnitude more efficient than the animal variety. With the animal, you have a whole life cycle to worry about, and all the energy that goes into keeping a fully living body in healthy shape. But in the lab, you only need to see to the needs of the actual tissues being grown for consumption. Mathery says;

"To produce the meat we eat now, 75 (percent) to 95 percent of what we feed an animal is lost because of metabolism and inedible structures like skeleton or neurological tissue. With cultured meat, there's no body to support; you're only building the meat that eventually gets eaten."

This may sound ghastly to some of you, but Jason has a very interesting way to look at it.

"We already eat meat that's processed in vats - chicken nuggets. But if we grow a better steak using cell cultures, we could give it the fat content of salmon, eliminate pathogens like salmonella, and save tens of millions of animals a year. Sure cultured meat isn't natural But neither are the processes for creating cheese or wine - not to mention stuffing 10,000 into a metal shed and pumping them with drugs."

One of the big positives in cultivated meat is that we could decide on its make up as it was being made. Beef, pork, chicken or what have you could be a hundred times more healthy than its "natural" counterpart. It could also be grown to specific compositions, textures, and tastes. I could foresee a time when meat cultivation centers become as famous for particular cultures of meat, just like certain vineyards are now renowned for their unique wines. And why stop there. What's to say that you couldn't put a microwave sized bioreactor in every kitchen, where tomorrow's New York Strip could be grown to order today.

It would be healthier, more plentiful, made to suit individual tastes, dead animal free, and available anywhere you had some floor space and some sunlight. When New Havest starts passing out the cultivated vat grown cheese burgers at the 2009 BBQ, I'll be a the head of the line. Until then, I suppose we'll have to get our delicious beef the old fashioned way. Bon appetit! [via Wired]


"The flesh. It should make the computer crazy, like those old ladies pinching babies. But it doesn't, not yet. I haven't taught it to be made crazy by the flesh, the poultry, the steak. So I'm going to start teaching it now!" - Seth Brundle

State of The Blog

As you know, we will soon be unbanned in India, as we are moving the blog to a legit web host, and officially taking up residence at www.memepunks.com for good. (no more domain forwarding). Our original plan was to ease up on the posts, work really hard at getting the CSS, Wordpress, and graphic elements under control. Then get the site moved over ASAP. However, the amount of content we were maintaining during that time was unacceptable. So, we are going to slow down the transition process a bit. Hopefully still being able to get everything up and ready by August 1st, but also keeping the posts coming strong in the mean time. Thanks to all of you for your patience, thanks for sticking with us through the slow spots, and as they say in the country where we are banned... Namaste.

Memepunks Banned in India!

Memepunks.blogspot.com is officially blocked by ISPs and the government in India. Now, before we start handing out the "Free Memepunks!" protest signs, it isn't us specifically that are feeling the censors boot. In fact, ALL websites that have a *.blogspot.com, *.typepad.com, or geocities.com/* are being blanket blocked at the request of the Indian government. That's millions of websites all told, most of which are the blogs of small groups or individuals. There are some reports that rural India has not yet blocked all of the above addresses, but that may change once the Indian government catches up with the patchwork boon docks ISPs.

As to why these sites are being censored, there are a few scattered reports, but precise details are scarce. We know for sure that the order came down for the India Department of Telecommunications, which all ISPs must obey or face the consequences. And the DoT typically gets its marching orders from The Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-In). This is not an entirely new phenomenon, as CERT-IN and the DoT have blocked 100 or so websites over the past six years. But this is the first time have they blocked so many at once, and especially not whole blog domains like blogspot and typepad. When asked about the specifics fo the censorship, CERT-In director Dr. Gulshan Rai said "Somebody must have asked for some sites to be blocked. What is your problem?".

At first it was though that the censorship was done in response to the commotion that followed the horrific Mumbai train bombings . But it now seems more likely that the site blocking is in "an effort to curb the propagation of religious extremism on the Net". If this is just heavy handed policy aimed at stamping out Muslim extremist sentiment, the Indian government has missed the boat big time on this one. In fact one of the sites blocked was created just to provide relief for the Mumbai bombing victims, and now those in need of relief are reaching the site through a Pakistani proxy service. Irony, thy name is Internet. It's a good thing this "extremism" isn't circulating in the mail or over the phones, perhaps India would start shutting down whole calling and zip codes.

There is a flood of information on India's latest misstep bubbling up all over the internets. For a first stop I would recommend the Google groups Bloggers Collective. Or if Wiki is you preferred dish, hop over to the Censorship Wikia. I learned about this first via Boing Boing, and while I was typing this article, they posted an Update, which included a more detailed list of banned URLs. Struggle on citizens of India, there are ways around every firewall.


"The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it." John Gilmore (EFF)

A Stem Cell Crossroads

Embryonic stem cells have always been a source of controversy here in America. We have politicized something that should be an issue of hard science, and placed stumbling blocks in the paths of some of the greatest minds in biotech research. The fireworks began in the early days of President GWB, when he placed a ban on all federal funding for any embryonic stem cells derived after August 9th, 2001. This turned out to be a much more dismal picture than the President painted initially. There were fewer "lines" of stem cells than promised, and many had been contaminated with non human tissues. Since then it has been slow going for ESCs. There has not been a single instance of a viable embryonic stem cell therapy in the US, and no changes have been made in the federal funding policy. But both of those things may be about to change.

First off, scientists at Geron have devised a treatment for spinal injuries using embryonic stem cells. Their plan is to inject oligodendrocyte progenitor cells into the damaged spines of injury victims. OPCs are special cells that play a support role to neurons in the central nervous system. They do this by creating a fatty myelin sheath around the neurons which then aids in transmitting signals within the brain and spine. Oligodendrocyte progenitor cells can be grown from human embryonic stem cells, and that is just what Geron is doing. They have already carried out the treatment successfully in rats, and in vitro in the laboratory.

The cells also do not have to be cultured specifically for the patient. Tests have shown that the central nervous system does not reject the newly introduced treatment cells. Geron has applied to the FDA to begin human trials. They are ready to get underway as soon as the US regulator gives them the go-ahead. But the specifics of this treatment may not apply to other proposed ESC therapies, as immune responses may differ dramatically. The jury is still out on whether or not a success here will herald new growth and support for the cause of embryonic stem cells. But many eyes will be on the good doctors at Geron. I wish them success, both in the healing of their patients and in helping medicine take a step forward.


Secondly, the question of federal funding has come back around. Last year the house passed H.R. 810, the "Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005". This is a bill that would allow for federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. It goes on to specify the source of the stem cells must be "derived from human embryos that have been donated from in vitro fertilization clinics, were created for the purposes of fertility treatment, and were in excess of the clinical need of the individuals seeking such treatment". This would supersede the President's August 9th 2001 decree. This is not a blanket endorsement of ESC funding. It merely seeks to utilize embryos that already exist in excess. The bill goes on to further stipulate that it must be determined, "that the embryos would never be implanted in a woman and would otherwise be discarded".

They are talking about embryos that would otherwise quite literally go to waste. These plentiful and miraculous cells that could go on to save and improve the lives of hundreds of millions of people are currently being discarded. The passage of this bill would breathe new life into federally funded ESC research, without the destruction of a single embryo that wasn't already destined for the trash heap. H.R. 810 is now on the Senate's schedule, and could be voted on as early as next week. Even many republican Senators are backing the bill. It appears that the bill will get the needed 60 votes to pass the Senate. At which point the ball is in the President's court... As usual, he plans on dropping it.

The Denver Post recently covered a trip made to Colorado by the President's Deputy Chief of Staff/handler/brain, Karl Rove. Rove, who's machinations deserve a post of their own, stated in no uncertain terms that President Bush would veto the stem cell bill if it passes the Senate. If he does use that option, this would be the Presdent's first veto. Once again, science and medicine would fall by the wayside in the face of superstition and politics. Rove also stated that they are confident that congress lacks the 2/3rds majority needed to over turn a presidential veto. Thus giving Bush and company the final say in the matter.

Last month one of the bill's sponsors, Rep. Diana DeGette, sought a meeting with the President in an attempt to convince him not to veto H.R. 810. But Rep. DeGette received a four sentence letter refusing her meeting with the President, the day after Rove's public statement. There was no explanation as to why. The bill's supporters will push for a vote regardless of an impending veto from the white house. And who knows, with midterm elections not far away, perhaps stem cells could become an important enough political issue to fuel a 2/3rds majority in congress. I know I'll be watching the fate of this bill carefully, and casting my vote accordingly. [inspired by Bodyhack]


“In a prime-time address, President Bush said he backed limited federal funding for stem cell research. That's right, the President said, this is a quote, the research could help cure brain diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and whatever it is I have.” - Conan O'Brien

Weekly Robot Update 012

A couple of months back I posted about Crusher, a mean green autonomous military vehicle. Now I want to take a look at another self guided, free wheeling, street machine. Built on the chassis of an off the shelf Volkswagen, but enhanced with the latest in technology, he has recently proved himself more than a match for any of his autonomous peers. His name is Stanley, and he is this week's robot.

A couple of years back, DARPA announced a "Grand Challenge". To take place in 2004, the Grand Challenge was a competition to see if anyone could produce a vehicle capable of self navigating a 150 mile course through the desert. A collection of 25 industry and university teams rose to the challenge and produced computer controlled off road vehicles for Grand Challange 2004. Unfortunatly, the competition was an abysmal failure. The top competitor, Carnegie Mellon's Red Team, drove off the road after only 7.4 miles and promptly caught fire. There was however a silver lining to the Grand Challenge of 2004. It had renewed interest in the field of robotic vehicles.

In 2005 DARPA once again threw down the gauntlet. This time the teams of engineers knew exactly what the were in for, and a slew of new and improved vehicles qualified for the competition. One of them was the brain child of Sebastian Thrun, the head of Stanford University's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Thrun, along with a team of both Stanford and Volkwagen engineers brought Stanley to life. They put their heads together to construct the pinnacle of autonomous vehicles. Stanley won the Grand Challange hands down, finishing the entire course a full ten minutes ahead of Carnegie Mellon's robo-humvee.

Stanley is a stock diesel powered Volkswagen Toureg R5. Volkswagen of America's Electronic Research Lab developed the drive-by-wire system that would allow Staley to be controlled by his electronic brain. Stanely has a cluster of seven Pentium M processors to do his thinking. But his most winning feature is the suite of sensors that reveal his environment without human intervention. Stanley uses GPS data, wheel speed and position sensors, and inertial sensors for collection of internal information. For the outside world, Stanely employs a monocular video system, radar, paired stereo cameras, and four laser range finders. Stanley processes all of this information in real time, as fast as his tires can eat up the road.

Stanley's power comes from his engine, but the system to power all of the computers and sensors is itself computer controlled and backed up via a rack of batteries. Stanley is more than just hardware, sensors and processor cycles though. Sebastian Thrun also engineered Stanely with a rudimentary self awareness algorithm. Rather than simply programing the car to drive by rote, Stanley was actually taught how to drive. It analyzed how its own reactions based on sensor data differed from those of a human driver and altered its responses accordingly. The robot was also taught to question its own incoming data and analyze it for patterns. Looking further down the road and smarter than any SUV has a right to be, Stanley went from incorrectly judging terrain one out of every 8 times... To once every 50,000. The once timid vehicle no longer jumped at shadows or backed off from shrubbery. Complete with his new programming algorithms, Stanley is now the best of the best of the automotive set. Have a look at this google video of some of Stanleys Grand Challenge highlights.

For his technological accomplishments and Grand Challenge victory, Stanley is being inducted into the Smithsonian this summer. The Smithsonian and Stanely's creators both see him as much more than an up and coming toy for the military. Stanley is precursor for what will some day be the worlds automated roadways. Fully automated roads populated by Stanley's grand children could save tens of thousands of lives per year, in addition to freeing us from the doldrums of the daily commute. There may soon come a time when you simply tell your car where you want to be and then sit back and enjoy your favorite movie, while a host of networked smart cars carry you and your peers safely to your destinations.

By no coincidence, DARPA has announced the rules for Grand Challenge 2007. Vehicles will have to successfully navigate a 60 mile urban environment. Using signals and obeying traffic laws accordingly, vehicles will be forced to move through and merge with traffic. It is due to take place in early November of next year. I cant speak to the roster of rolling robots that will be at the starting line come 2007, but I'm willing to bet that Stanley or Stanley Jr. will be there kicking tailgate and taking VIN numbers. Robots, start your engines! [inspired by Wired]


"It is a one-of-a-kind car, Mr. Long. It is the fastest, safest, strongest car in the world. It is also completely fuel-efficient and is operated entirely by microprocessors which make it virtually impossible for it to be involved in any kind of mishap or collision." - Devon Miles

Independence Day

First off, to those of us here in the states, happy Fourth of July! Perhaps you have been asking yourself; What happened to Memepunks? Where was last week's weekly robot update? What has science been up to lately?!

Things have been "afoot" behind the scenes here at Memepunks. We too will be celebrating our independence very soon. Memepunks is moving our operation to a legitimate web host in the coming week or so. After three months with our friends at blogger, it's time to move on. Although there were times when system slow downs and outages were frustrating, blogger performed above and beyond the call of duty for a free blog engine. Well done blogger, and thanks, we couldn't have gotten this far without you.

For our new host, we have chosen the cthulhu-esque logoed Laughing Squid. Their support is superb, and their services seem perfect for us. Also they have a blog of their own in which they cover things like BarCamp and the Robogames. Which means they must be an alright group of folks. For our new blog software, we are moving to WordPress. WordPress is an open source blogging engine that also happens to be the most popular self hosted blogging software on the planet. It's distributed under the time honored GNU-Gpl liscence, and came highly recommended by my friend and original Linux mentor Mick.

Hopefully this change in venue will issue in a new era of creativity and usability for Memepunks and our beloved readers. But this doesn't mean that we will be on hiatus until then. We will continue to blog about all sorts of future friendly ideas and strange or interesting stuff. I still owe you an extra WRU when all is said and done. Stay tuned to this space for the inside scoop on upcoming stem cell trails, synthetic meat, electronic interest detection, vat grown organs, and the Google Revolution. Special thanks to many of you for your kind words and e-mails. And of course to all of you... Thanks for reading Memepunks!

Memepunks - "Evenly distributing the future since 2006"