Thursday, June 23, 2005
Network Protocol For Telepathy
I just got back from a lunchtime presentation by Tony Fletcher, one of the partners at the lawfirm where I work, of his collection of old science-fiction movie serials. The final clip, from the serial "The Lost Planet", was taken from episode 8: "Snared By The Prysmic Catapult". The first scene shows the evil scientist at work in his underground lab, where he is interrupted by a telepathic transmission from his mysterious overlord:
"RJ-12, these are my thought waves. RJ-12, these are my thought waves. We have an intruder. Activate the Prysmic Catapult!"
It got me thinking: what kind of network protocol are we going to see for telepathic communication? Clearly, we're going to need: 1) a way of differentiating our own thoughts from those being beamed into our head by someone else; and 2) if telepathy works as a wideband broadcast (like ethernet or WiFi), a way of designating the intended recipient of the message.
Using those criteria, the preface to the mysterious overlord's transmission makes a lot of sense. I'm not sure why he needed to repeat it, though -- maybe the protocol uses built-in redundancy to correct for dropped packets or to serve as a hardware wakeup for inattentive receivers.
Yes, I am a nerd.
"RJ-12, these are my thought waves. RJ-12, these are my thought waves. We have an intruder. Activate the Prysmic Catapult!"
It got me thinking: what kind of network protocol are we going to see for telepathic communication? Clearly, we're going to need: 1) a way of differentiating our own thoughts from those being beamed into our head by someone else; and 2) if telepathy works as a wideband broadcast (like ethernet or WiFi), a way of designating the intended recipient of the message.
Using those criteria, the preface to the mysterious overlord's transmission makes a lot of sense. I'm not sure why he needed to repeat it, though -- maybe the protocol uses built-in redundancy to correct for dropped packets or to serve as a hardware wakeup for inattentive receivers.
Yes, I am a nerd.
