In this paper scientists from the University of Leeds introduce a new structure for supervised relational learning of event models.
Inductive Logic Programming and other machine learning techniques are adapted to use video data. Efficiency balances generalization and over especification deploying layers of differentiated hierarchy of object types.
Experimental results presented suggest that the techniques are suitable to real world scenarios.
In this paper “A U.S. Research Roadmap for Human Computation“, authors Pietro Michelucci, Lea Shanley, Janis Dickinson, Haym Hirsh studies how internet and web-based mutliple contributors to bring great knowledge achievements. Duolingo, Wikipedia being high profile examples.
Human computation is the proposed new field to study how scientific research collaboration may work on new platforms.
article featured in aeon reminds us about the history of textile technology.
It might be the case that ideas such as Google’s Project Jacquard comes to add a thread the fabric, but still textile as a stand-alone tech case brings more attention to non-computing tech many often downplay..
From the article:
The story of technology is in fact the story of textiles. From the most ancient times to the present, so too is the story of economic development and global trade. The origins of chemistry lie in the colouring and finishing of cloth. … In ways both subtle and obvious, textiles made our world.
(…)
As late as the 1970s, textiles still enjoyed the aura of science. Since then, however, we’ve stopped thinking of them as a technical achievement. In today’s popular imagination, fabric entirely belongs to the frivolous world of fashion. Even in the pages of Vogue, ‘wearable technology’ means electronic gadgets awkwardly tricked out as accessories, not the soft stuff you wear against your skin – no matter how much brainpower went into producing it. …
This cultural amnesia has multiple causes. The rise of computers and software as the very definition of ‘high technology’ eclipsed other industries. Intense global competition drove down prices of fibres and fabric, making textiles and apparel a less noticeable part of household budgets, and turning textile makers into unglamorous, commodity businesses. Environmental campaigns made synthetic a synonym for toxic. And for the first time in human history, generations of women across the developed world grew up without learning the needle arts.
As understandable as it might be, forgetting about textiles sacrifices an important part of our cultural heritage. It cuts us off from essential aspects of the human past, including the lives and work of women. It deprives us of valuable analogies for understanding how technology and trade transform economies and culture. It blinds us to some of today’s most pervasive innovations – and some of tomorrow’s most intriguing…. read full article
Anders Sandberg and Nick Bostrom, from Oxford University’s Faculty of Philosophy “Whole Brain Emulation: A Roadmap“
“The key attributes journalists must have—separate fact from opinion, find and develop sources, and curiosity to ask probing, intelligent questions—are still relevant today’s 140-character-or-less, ADHD-esque society. Yet increasingly, journalists dealing with technical topics often found in science or technology are turning to tools that were once solely the province of data analysts and computer scientists.
Data mining, Web scraping, classifying unstructured data types, and creating complex data visualizations uncover data that would be impossible to compile manually.
“It is about giving the audience information that is unique, in-depth, that allows them to explore the data, and also engage with the audience,” says David Herzog, a professor at the University of Missouri…” read story
Then 10 years later, in 1975, Moore comments to an Intel publication: “40 years later? be true? – Of Course”. Amazing then as now.
As reported in this article from TU Wien in Vienna, recent developments in theoretical physics have shown how we may reduce the mathematical description of physical events into analogous models using less dimensions than previously thought.
In a way, 3D models would be re-written as instances of 2D systems. Our universe complexity may be understood in less dimensions that are dreamt in our minds.
In this rather satirical article, Tibor Blomhäll explores some differences one would not miss much in the fossil to electricity transition in cars.
This list was originally written down and handed to Arnold Samuelson.
“Out of the ashes”, by Lewis Dartnell, featured in aeon.co
“Imagine that the world as we know it ends tomorrow. There’s a global catastrophe: a pandemic virus, an asteroid strike, or perhaps a nuclear holocaust. The vast majority of the human race perishes. Our civilisation collapses. The post-apocalyptic survivors find themselves in a devastated world of decaying, deserted cities and roving gangs of bandits looting and taking by force.
Bad as things sound, that’s not the end for humanity. We bounce back. Sooner or later, peace and order emerge again, just as they have time and again through history. Stable communities take shape. They begin the agonising process of rebuilding their technological base from scratch. But here’s the question: how far could such a society rebuild? Is there any chance, for instance, that a post-apocalyptic society could reboot a technological civilisation?
Let’s make the basis of this thought experiment a little more specific. Today, we have already consumed the most easily drainable crude oil and, particularly in Britain, much of the shallowest, most readily mined deposits of coal. Fossil fuels are central to the organisation of modern industrial society, just as they were central to its development. Those, by the way, are distinct roles: even if we could somehow do without fossil fuels now (which we can’t, quite), it’s a different question whether we could have got to where we are without ever having had them…” read full story
DNA manipulation technique using CRISPR enzymes, binds to particular parts of the genome before splicing it, promissed nothing less than a revolution in genetics. Now it starts bearing fruits, and initial human-dna editing testing under way, even as many heed warnings on ethical issues.
Chinese researchers were cautious enough to select only non-viable embryos. While results were not consistent enough to indicate we mastered genetic altering, it stands as a clear statement that this fronteer is open for game. And that (some) researchers are not waiting until the ethical debate around it is settle – if such a thing is even possible.
A couple of recent articles about this on MIT Review, by Jason Pontin, and in Popular Science by Alexandra Ossola
When a reader on Reddit’sAsk Me Anything series asked “Which books should be read by every single intelligent person on the planet?” this is what Neil deGrasse Tyson posted [edited to fit a list format]:
If you read all of the above works you will glean profound insight into most of what has driven the history of the western world.”
Brilliant combination of philosophy, artificial intelligence, and neurobiology.
in “Kinds of Minds” Daniel Dennett takes reader to inquire about minds of one own’s, other humans’, animals, A.I.
From the role played by language to the intrinsic capabilities embeded in DNA and RNA.
You can take a peek into the first chapter in the video below read by the author himself, and other chapters on youtube.
might also relate to this post on a collection of texts on anthropomorphism
We describe the Aspector system that computes aspects for a given query. Each aspect is a set of search queries that together represent a distinct information need relevant to the original search query. To serve as an effective means to explore the space, Aspector computes aspects that are orthogonal to each other and to have high combined coverage…