Daedalus was the mythical engineer and artificer of the classical world. What would he do with digital tools and digital concerns?

RealComm in San Diego coming up

June 03, 2008

I will be in San Diego speaking at RealComm next week. If you are coming, please give me a shout-out. If you are one of my west coast readers, you might as well come.

New Daedalus

Daedalus designed buildings, automated statues, and built wings for human flight. Daedalus worked by eye and hand, his designs scratched with a stylus on wax tablets. Until recently, we merely perfected his means of work, using better pens, and paper, and finally drawing on computers.

It is only recently that we have begun to leave the methods of Daedalus behind.

Simulations and digital twins guide each decision. Intelligence, or at least behaviors, imbue each system and device. Cyberphysical systems replace household servants and chauffeurs, operate factories, and manage energy logistics. The most pressing concerns are how intelligent systems and buildings will respond to us, and to each other.