the ABCs of Ideas

December 11, 2009 • 5:58 pm • POSTED BY ahartley

The end of the year is a big time for lists, and publications, and publications that make lists.  It’s kind of like VH1, except instead of Carrot Top commenting on MC Hammer’s pants or how hot Brooke Shields was in the 1981 Calvin Klein campaign, we have a tweed-coated columnist telling us about the year’s best…everything.

Although I normally skim over these lists skeptically (did Adventureland REALLY make it onto a list for the ten best movies of the decade?), I was blown away by the New York Times Magazine’s’ “9th Annual Year in Ideas” list. It’s full of discoveries that are cool (face-detecting digital advertisements that move and respond to passers-by), relevant (a beer bottle is more effective at cracking the human skull if it’s empty, rather than full), and futuristic (the development of an ethical robot; a Google algorithm applied to the analysis of animal extinction). From start to finish, the list offers a broad and refreshing look at the innovations that will likely shape the kinds of technological, cultural, social and artistic strides that will be made in 2010.

Oh, and for whoever got my name in the Secret Santa pool, I wouldn’t say no to Ruppy the flourescent dog. (It sure beats my invisible one.)