Archives for 2016
Election 2016: Things are going to get Weird.
Writers and artists, by their nature, are sensitive. We spend years building up feathery radar as delicate as moth antennae in order to observe the nuances of human behavior. So when something happens that blows your mind and makes you question the reality you're living in, it can make you feel woozy and lost at sea without a compass. Whatever politics you subscribe to, the 2016 election revealed a divide so vast it can only be called shocking. The pollsters were not able to measure reality. The dark desires of the collective unconscious tossed up strange, seemingly unnatural, even horrifying events and players. We saw racism, misogyny, xenophobia and hatred, the dark flower of a baser, deeper emotion— fear. Right now, that fear is rushing across the land like a wave. Our first instinct may be to fight events, even try and change the outcome, but nothing we do can stop how weird things are going to get. No matter how civilized and decent you believe President Obama to be, half the country saw this president as a frightening boogieman. And no matter how obvious Trump's … [Read more...] about Election 2016: Things are going to get Weird.
H.L. Mencken’s Prophecy
A tougher Turing Test shows chatbots are still pretty stupid – ScienceAlert
An interesting article on Science alert about a more complicated Turing test... To find out just how advanced our current AI systems are, researchers have developed a tougher Turing Test - called the Winograd Schema Challenge - which measures how well robotic intelligence matches human intelligence. In the end, the team found that - even though AI is definitely improving every day - our robotic pals are still seriously lacking some common sense, suggesting that it will be some time before AI is fully ready to meld with society. First, before we go any further into the new competition's results, it's important to define what a 'Turing Test' actually is. Developed and coined by Alan Turing back in the 1950s, the Turing Test is a way for researchers to challenge computer-based intelligence to see if it can become indistinguishable from human intelligence, which is basically the goal for AI researchers. These tests are mostly language-based because human language is - when you truly think about it - super weird. In short, Turing believed that AI should aim to have robots that a … [Read more...] about A tougher Turing Test shows chatbots are still pretty stupid – ScienceAlert
Pokémon Go! Gaming just crashed into Reality.
Have you looked outside lately? People are standing around staring at their phones, seeing things only they can see. People on bikes are picking up points as they hunt rats and dragons and sword-like creatures placed in our world by the game. People at bars are "luring" invisible creatures inside to rack up points as they have a drink with friends. Arlington Cemetery just asked players to please stop wandering through the sacred grounds trying to find invisible creatures and gather eggs. Why should you care? Because Gaming just crashed into your reality in the form of Pokémon Go. This is just the beginning.... Save Save Save … [Read more...] about Pokémon Go! Gaming just crashed into Reality.
Your brain does not process information and it is not a computer | Aeon Essays
Source: Your brain does not process information and it is not a computer | Aeon Essays Here is a great article by Robert Epstein, senior research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology in California, about how your brain is not a computer.... No matter how hard they try, brain scientists and cognitive psychologists will never find a copy of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony in the brain – or copies of words, pictures, grammatical rules or any other kinds of environmental stimuli. The human brain isn’t really empty, of course. But it does not contain most of the things people think it does – not even simple things such as ‘memories’. Our shoddy thinking about the brain has deep historical roots, but the invention of computers in the 1940s got us especially confused. For more than half a century now, psychologists, linguists, neuroscientists and other experts on human behaviour have been asserting that the human brain works like a computer. To see how vacuous this idea is, consider the brains of babies. Thanks to evolution, human neonates, … [Read more...] about Your brain does not process information and it is not a computer | Aeon Essays
Prince: The Essential Reading List
The first time I saw Prince was on an album cover for Dirty Mind in the 80's. The image of his raw, sexuality is still seared in my brain. Then there was the masterful, pop majesty of his rule-breaking music. The methodology of artists always fascinates me and Prince was extremely prolific. He vowed to write a song a day and not only had a beautiful voice, but often played every instrument on his albums. If that wasn't enough, he wrote hit songs for other artists such as Sinead O'Conner and The Bangles. Over his three-decade-long career, Prince rarely granted interviews, but when he did we glimpsed an intriguing man and a highly disciplined artist. Here is a list at W Magazine at some of his best journalistic moments. Source: Prince Dead at 57: The Essential Reading List … [Read more...] about Prince: The Essential Reading List