I've posted before on prehistorical societies, and the fact that, for virtually all of human history, including the history of our particular sub-species: Homo sapiens, we lived in nomadic hunter gatherer tribes. The evidence points to anatomically modern humans first appearing in Africa over 200,000 years ago, and that much of what we consider normal human society: … Continue reading First Peoples documentary series to air on PBS starting Wednesday
Author: SelfAwarePatterns
A middle aged guy who loves discussing science, philosophy, history, science fiction, and many other nerdy topics.
Quantum computing will not rescue Moore’s Law
I found this video on quantum computing educational. It confirmed some things that I've been pondering about quantum computing for a while, notably its limitations, which are discussed after about the five minute mark. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_IaVepNDT4 The strength of quantum computing is that it makes use of superpositions, the fact that quantum particles can be in multiple … Continue reading Quantum computing will not rescue Moore’s Law
Literary “rules” I wish science fiction and fantasy books would break more often.
Read any book on writing, or take a creative writing course, and there are certain pieces of advice that you are almost certain to encounter. In many cases, the advice is good, but some have a tendency to take these tools of the craft and turn them into rigid rules. And just about any rigid rule … Continue reading Literary “rules” I wish science fiction and fantasy books would break more often.
How about a presidential candidate science debate?
Can't say I'm too optimistic that this will actually take place, but any pressure on the presidential candidates can't hurt: How About a Science Debate? : Political Wire. ScienceDebate is ramping up efforts to host a live presidential debate on science policy in 2016. Their goal is to get candidates on the record on issues such as … Continue reading How about a presidential candidate science debate?
The Philosopher’s Lexicon: A Priori and A Posteriori Knowledge
When to give up on a story
I've been reading a lot of science fiction short stories lately. Many have been excellent. But some have not been my cup of tea. I've run into a fair amount of melancholic ambiance pieces where nothing much happens. But the stories I tend to enjoy have action, dialog, or at least a steady stream of concrete information. As I've been … Continue reading When to give up on a story
The utter relativism of definitions
I'm always surprised how contentious definitions, can be. How opinions about what are essentially sounds in language become matters of intense debate. When the IAU (International Astronomical Union) redefined the word "planet" to exclude Pluto, which came about due to the discovery of Eris, a similarly sized body, many people reacted with intense emotion, igniting … Continue reading The utter relativism of definitions
I was wrong
Fellow blogger, Steve Morris, did a post on the importance of admitting when you're wrong. He finished up his post with this challenge: So I had the amazing/stupid idea of putting this into practice on more formal terms. I propose to create an international Admit You’re Wrong Day. As many of you are bloggers, I challenge … Continue reading I was wrong
Robot masters new skills through trial and error
Related to our various AI discussions, I noticed this news: Robot masters new skills through trial and error -- ScienceDaily. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed algorithms that enable robots to learn motor tasks through trial and error using a process that more closely approximates the way humans learn, marking a major milestone in … Continue reading Robot masters new skills through trial and error
Fruit fly fear and AI sentience
I found this study interesting: Do flies have fear (or something like it)? -- ScienceDaily. A fruit fly starts buzzing around food at a picnic, so you wave your hand over the insect and shoo it away. But when the insect flees the scene, is it doing so because it is actually afraid? Using fruit flies … Continue reading Fruit fly fear and AI sentience
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