A couple of weeks ago, shortly after the Amazon C.E.O. Jeff Bezos unveiled, on “60 Minutes,” that his company plans to deliver packages to customers with a swarm of autonomous, flying drones, Google made an announcement that seemed far less explosive: Andy Rubin, the former head of Android, would lead an “effort to create a … Continue reading Google’s Android Dreams: Annoying, Not Apocalyptic : The New Yorker
Month: December 2013
Experience Earthrise with Apollo 8
When we think of Apollo missions, most people think about Apollo 11. But Apollo 8 was a major breakthrough mission, with humans going beyond low earth orbit for the first time, going hundreds of times further away from Earth than anyone had ever been, and orbiting another body (the moon) for the first time. Earthrise … Continue reading Experience Earthrise with Apollo 8
Attention happens
I'm currently reading Michael Graziano's book 'Consciousness and the Social Brain', which I hope to give a review of sometime soon. In the book, he makes a distinction between attention and awareness. Attention is something that happens when one of the competing collections of signals in the brain wins, and awareness is data in the … Continue reading Attention happens
RealClearScience – 5 Easy Tips for Denying Scientific Consensus
Faced with unfortunate facts or inconvenient truths? Tired of closing your eyes, sticking your fingers in your ears, and screaming \"LA LA LA LA LA LA?\" Well, simply read RealClearScience\'s handy guide for denying scientific consensus. It\'s 100% proven to work against a variety of well-substantiated topics, such as: Drinking Water Fluoridation Global Climate Change … Continue reading RealClearScience – 5 Easy Tips for Denying Scientific Consensus
BBC – Future – Science & Environment – Infographic: Absolute zero to ‘absolute hot’
BBC - Future - Science & Environment - Infographic: Absolute zero to ‘absolute hot’. The infographic at this link is worth checking out. A few observations: The temperatures are all in Celsius. Calling the Boomerang nebula the "coldest place in the universe" has always seemed a bit presumptuous to me. Still, the nebula is colder … Continue reading BBC – Future – Science & Environment – Infographic: Absolute zero to ‘absolute hot’
Rationally Speaking: Rationally Speaking cartoon: Evidence & Reason
via Rationally Speaking: Rationally Speaking cartoon: Evidence & Reason. Click through to see a enlarged version. This succinctly mirrors my earlier comments on a post Massimo made a while back expressing frustration on a relative's unwillingness to see logic. Sometimes the logical thing to do is to recognize that logic won't work. Related articles Rationally Speaking … Continue reading Rationally Speaking: Rationally Speaking cartoon: Evidence & Reason
Virtual afterlives will transform humanity – Michael Graziano – Aeon
Imagine a future in which your mind never dies. When your body begins to fail, a machine scans your brain in enough detail to capture its unique wiring. A computer system uses that data to simulate your brain. It won’t need to replicate every last detail. Like the phonograph, it will strip away the irrelevant … Continue reading Virtual afterlives will transform humanity – Michael Graziano – Aeon
Attempts To Terraform Mars Could Fail – With No Chance To Try Again
Most science fiction and news stories describe Mars terraforming as a long term but simple process. You warm up the planet first, with greenhouse gases, giant mirrors, impacting comets or some such. You land humans on the surface right away and they introduce lifeforms designed to live on Mars. Over a period of a thousand … Continue reading Attempts To Terraform Mars Could Fail – With No Chance To Try Again
BBC – Future – Technology – Artificial intelligence: The machines with alien minds
Why should our biological manner of thinking determine our approach to silicone-based circuits and electronic logic? Our machine creations are more profoundly divided from us than anything else in nature. They do not need to think like us to serve us, work with us, or even understand us – as our own relationships with nature … Continue reading BBC – Future – Technology – Artificial intelligence: The machines with alien minds
The Speculative Literature Foundation Announces a Working Class Writer Grant
This is a really interesting idea.From the grant page:
Working class, blue-collar, poor, and homeless writers have been historically underrepresented in speculative fiction, due to financial barriers which have made it much harder for them to have access to the writing world. Such lack of access might include an inability to attend conventions, to purchase a computer, to buy books, to attend college or high school, to have the time to write (if, for example, you must work two jobs simply to pay rent and feed a family, or if you must spend all your waking hours job-hunting for months on end). The SLF would like to assist in finding more of these marginalized voices and bringing them into speculative fiction.
You are eligible for this grant if you come from a background such as described above, if you grew up (or are growing up) in homelessness, poverty…
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