^{Monthly Archive}May 2022

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
May 7, 2022

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Alternative universe concept, Extraterrestrials (contact), Space (crime in space)}

Canadians Forbidden To Murder in Space and Other ET Stories

_{Some astronomers are blasting out messages to aliens; others say it would take too long for them to respond} _{News

May 7, 2022

5

Arts & Culture, Science}

Alien watch: Canadians forbidden to murder in space and other stories The Canadian government buried it in other news re the federal budget: Buried deep within the legislation implementing Canada’s 2022 federal budget is a Criminal Code amendment that would explicitly extend Canadian criminal jurisdiction to the cosmos… “A Canadian crew member who, during a space flight, commits an act or omission outside Canada that if committed in Canada would constitute an indictable offence is deemed to have committed that act or omission in Canada,” reads the measure included in Bill C-19, the 443-page document implementing the provisions of the 2022 federal budget. Basically, the amendment means that if a Canadian commits a criminal offence while in space, they’ll be Read More ›

The universe within. Silhouette of a man inside the universe, physical and mathematical formulas.. The concept on scientific and philosophical topics. Elements of this image furnished by NASA.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
May 7, 2022

Categorized
Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Intelligent beings in universe, Marcelo Gleiser}

A Purpose Must Underlie the Universe If Intelligent Beings Exist

_{Theoretical physicist Marcelo Gleiser argues that intelligent life is extremely rare in the universe} _{News

May 7, 2022

2

Philosophy of Mind}

Dartmouth College theoretical physicist Marcelo Gleiser offers to explain why intelligence is rare in the universe: We are the only humans in this universe. And if we consider what we have learned from the history of life on Earth, chances are that intelligent life is extremely rare. While intelligence is clearly an asset in the struggle for survival among species, it is not a purpose of evolution; evolution has no purpose. Until it becomes intelligent, life is happy just replicating. With intelligence, it will be unhappy just replicating. This, in a nutshell, is the essence of the human condition. Putting all this together, we propose that we are indeed chemically connected to the rest of the cosmos, and that we Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Gary Varner
Date
May 7, 2022

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Ethics

Tagged
Featured, Firefly Episode 13}

Firefly Episode 13: If You Are Stuck at Home in a Rainstorm…

_{Otherwise, you may just want to skip this one. But let me explain why} _{Gary Varner

May 7, 2022

9

Arts & Culture, Ethics}

You may remember the classic Western, Unforgiven (1992) directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. It’s the sad tale of a lonely farmer who had recently lost his wife. He was, at one point, a cold-hearted gunman. He decides to take one final job, adopting his dark earlier persona for the last time so he can provide a better life for his kids. His job is to kill a local sheriff who has been harassing prostitutes in a small Western town. It’s a story with no real good guys that leaves us with the infamous line, “We all have it coming.” I think this episode of Firefly tried to emulate the Western. But it does a terrible job. Before discussing the Read More ›

Girl in orange shirt standing near house robot

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
May 4, 2022

Categorized
Medicine and Health, Robotics

Tagged
Robotic assistants}

Is the World Running Out of Humans? Are Robots the Answer?

_{But then why have we “run out of human beings,” as some claim?} _{News

May 4, 2022

2

Medicine and Health, Robotics}

So some claim: The pandemic and the U.S. labor shortage are starting to change the conversation about robotics and automation from threat to opportunity — from putting jobs at risk to filling critical gaps in the workforce. “The biggest shift that has happened from 2018 to now is that we’ve literally run out of human beings to do the things that we need to do,” said roboticist Siddhartha “Sidd” Srinivasa, a professor at the University of Washington’s Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering in Seattle who founded Carnegie Mellon University’s Personal Robotics Lab during his 18-year tenure in Pittsburgh. That shift is giving a new spark to robotics engineers and entrepreneurs who have long aspired to change the world Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
May 4, 2022

Categorized
Economics, Mathematics, Sports

Tagged
draft picks}

Why Giving the Second Best Guy a Chance Is a Smart Move

_{Business prof Gary Smith explains…} _{News

May 4, 2022

2

Economics, Mathematics, Sports}

Gary Smith, author of The AI Delusion, has some interesting advice for those who think that a star athlete wins only on performance: It doesn’t quite work that way: A study by two business school professors, Cade Massey and Richard Thaler, found that the chances that a drafted player will turn out to be better than the next player drafted in his position (for example, the first quarterback drafted compared to the second quarterback drafted) is only 52%, barely better than a coin flip.Yet, teams pay much more for early draft picks than for later picks. Even leaving salary aside, teams that trade down (for example giving up the first pick in the draft for the 14th and 15th pick) Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
May 3, 2022

Categorized
Surveillance, Technocracy

Tagged
1984 (as prophetic), Classroom Technologies, Facecrime, facial recognition technology, Intel, Kate Kaye, Shoshana Zuboff}

Facial Recognition Technology Can Now Detect “Facecrime”

_{Some claim it will help teachers interact with students better} _{News

May 3, 2022

4

Surveillance, Technocracy}

At one time, this was science fiction: In George Orwell’s dystopian classic, 1984, citizens are monitored 24/7 through the use of “telescreens” that are stationed in every home and throughout every workplace, monitoring for facecrime. It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself – anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face (to look incredulous when a victory was announced, for example) was itself a punishable offense. 1984. Read More ›

Inflation, dollar hyperinflation with black background. One dollar bill is sprayed in the hand of a man on a black background. The concept of decreasing purchasing power, inflation.

^{Type
post

Author
Gary Smith
Date
May 3, 2022

Categorized
Economics

Tagged
Featured, Hyperinflation, Hyperinflation (Germany post WWI), Inflation (of currency), Russia (Ukraine war)}

Will Higher Prices Disarm Russia? It’s Complicated…

_{The effects of hyperinflation are subtle, but very real} _{Gary Smith

May 3, 2022

6

Economics}

The annual rate of consumer price inflation in Russia was 9% in February and 17% in March. For producer prices, the March number was 27%. Is Russia headed for hyperinflation, with prices increasing at triple-digit rates or more? I don’t know, but it is worth remembering what happens during hyperinflations. Many people believe that higher prices make everyone worse off. This is not true. Buyers pay more, but sellers receive more. One person’s higher price is another’s higher income. If all prices and incomes were to increase by the same amount — say 10 percent — everyone’s real, inflation-adjusted income would be unchanged. The true costs of inflation are more subtle. In practice, within every inflation, some prices increase more Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
May 2, 2022

Categorized
Programming

Tagged
Arm technology, Featured}

Arm in the Cloud?: Lower Cost and Higher Performance

_{A quick tutorial on why Arm technology has 90% of the cell phone market} _{Jonathan Bartlett

May 2, 2022

5

Programming}

Central processing units (CPUs) are usually classified according to their architecture. Historically, desktop computers (especially non-Apple computers) were almost entirely based on Intel’s x86 32-bit architecture, with more recent ones supporting AMD’s 64-bit extensions for more modern computers. The x86 architecture has never ruled because it was a great architecture for the future, but merely because of compatibility — essentially, if you write software to one architecture, it won’t run on another one. The one company that pushed more aggressively for new architectures was Apple, which switched its Macintosh operating system through four major CPU architectures: Motorola 68k, PowerPC, Intel x86, and now Arm. Not only that, their earlier Apple II series ran yet another CPU architecture—the 6502. Because Apple Read More ›

eurpean siblings brother and sister quarelling

^{Type
post

Author
J.R. Miller
Date
May 2, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Ethics

Tagged
E. O. Wilson, Evolutionary psychology, Featured}

Why AI Can’t Save Us From Ourselves — If Evolution Is Any Guide

_{Famous evolutionary theorist E. O. Wilson’s reflections help us understand} _{J.R. Miller

May 2, 2022

5

Artificial Intelligence, Ethics}

The late E. O. Wilson (1929–2021) received more than one hundred awards for his research and writing, including two Pulitzer Prizes. As a professor at Harvard University, Wilson influenced generations with his ideas about human evolution and ethics. In his 2012 New York Times essay “Evolution and Our Inner Conflict,” Wilson asked two key question regarding the problem of evil in our world: Are human beings intrinsically good but corruptible by the forces of evil, or the reverse, innately sinful yet redeemable by the forces of good? Are we built to pledge our lives to a group, even to the risk of death, or the opposite, built to place ourselves and our families above all else? Wilson believed that humans Read More ›

abstract illustration of Indian celebrating mathematics day Jayanti or Ramanujan Srinivasa holiday

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
May 1, 2022

Categorized
Mathematics, Philosophy

Tagged
Ashwin Sharma, Freeman Dyson, Srinivasa Ramanujan}

A Brilliant Mathematician’s Last Letter Continues To Matter

_{Sadly, Ramanujan’s life was cut short by various health issues} _{News

May 1, 2022

2

Mathematics, Philosophy}

One of the most remarkable mathematicians in history was Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887–1920) whose life was cut short by tuberculosis. In an interesting essay, psychiatrist Ashwin Sharma asks us to look at ways that his last letter helps us understand our universe better: A cryptic letter addressed to G.H. Hardy on January 12th, 1920, will be remembered as one of the most important letters in Scientific history. Written by Srinivasa Ramanujan, a self-taught mathematical genius who, laying on his deathbed, left hints of a new and incredible mathematical discovery. Unfortunately, the letter was to be his last, dying three months later at 32. Ramanujan’s discovery took over 80 years to solve, and with it came answers to some of the most Read More ›