Posts Tagged ‘artificial intelligence’
[BLOG] Some Friday links
- Bad Astronomy’s Phil Plait notes new research on where the sun is located within the Milky Way Galaxy.
- The Broadside Blog’s Caitlin Kelly considers the value of slow fashion.
- Centauri Dreams notes the different gas giants that our early methods have yet to pick up.
- Crooked Timber shares a lovely photo looking back at Venice from across its lagoon.
- D-Brief notes that upcoming space telescopes might find hundreds of rogue planets thanks to microlensing.
- io9 notes that Marvel will soon be producing Warhammer40K comics.
- The Island Review shares some poetry and photography by Ken Cockburn inspired by the Isle of Jura.
- JSTOR Daily notes that different humpback whale groups have different songs, different cultures.
- Language Hat tries to find the meaning of the odd Soviet Yiddish word “kolvirt”.
- Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at the history of Elizabeth Warren as a law teacher.
- Map Room Blog shares information from Google Maps about its use of data.
- Marginal Revolution notes that in 2016, not a single child born in the United Kingdom was given the name Nigel.
- Peter Watts talks about AI and what else he is doing.
- The NYR Daily marked the centennial of a horrible massacre of African-Americans centered on the Arkansas community of Elaine.
- Emily Margolis at the Planetary Society Blog looks at how the Apollo moon missions helped galvanize tourism in Florida.
- Noel Maurer at The Power and the Money looks at the constitutional crisis in Peru.
- Drew Rowsome takes a look at A Streetcar Named Desire.
- Peter Rukavina looks at a spreadsheet revealing the distribution of PEI public servants.
- Spacing reviews a book imagining how small communities can rebuild themselves in neoliberalism.
- Towleroad shares the criticism of Christine and the Queens of the allegedly opportunistic use of queer culture by Taylor Swift.
- Understanding Society considers, sociologically, the way artifacts work.
- The Volokh Conspiracy argues that the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the People’s Republic of China should be a day of mourning, on account of the high human toll of the PRC.
- Window on Eurasia suggests the Russian generation of the 1970s was too small to create lasting change.
- Arnold Zwicky looks at how underwear ads can be quite sexualized.
Written by Randy McDonald
October 11, 2019 at 10:30 pm
Posted in Assorted, Demographics, Economics, History, Politics, Popular Culture, Science, Social Sciences, Urban Note
Tagged with animal intelligence, arkansas, artificial intelligence, astronomy, blogs, book reviews, cetaceans, china, comics, democracy, Demographics, elizabeth warren, ethnic cleansing, exoplanets, fashion, florida, former soviet union, glbt issues, google, isle of jura, italy, links, maps, milky way galaxy, peru, photos, politics, popular culture, popular music, prince edward island, racism, russia, science fiction, scotland, sexuality, social sciences, sociology, solar system, south america, space science, space travel, technology, theatre, tourism, united kingdom, united states, venetian lagoon, venice, yiddish
[NEWS] Five sci-tech links: ISS internet, Maritimes, CRISPR, machine translation, Trabants
- Universe Today looks at the impressive Internet speed of the ISS, 600 megabits a second, here.
- The National Observer reports on how the infrastructure of the Maritimes will need to be able to handle climate change, here.
- Wired reports on the partially successful effort in China to use CRISPR to cure HIV, here.
- Technology Review looks at how machine learning can be used to translate lost languages and unknown scripts, like Linear A, here.
- Atlas Obscura reports on how the Trabant car of East Germany keeps its fanbase, here.
Written by Randy McDonald
September 16, 2019 at 8:21 am
Posted in Assorted, History, Politics, Popular Culture, Science
Tagged with artificial intelligence, atlantic canada, crispr, east germany, genetics, global warming, health, hiv/aids, internet, language, links, space colonies, space travel, trabant
[BLOG] Some Sunday links
- Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes how variable gravity is on irregular asteroid Bennu.
- Bruce Dorminey reports on how the European Southern Observatory has charted the Magellanic Clouds in unprecedented detail.
- The Dragon’s Tales shares a collection of links looking at the Precambrian Earth.
- Andrew LePage at Drew Ex Machina reports on the late 1950s race to send probes to the Moon.
- Gizmodo shares some stunning astronomy photos.
- JSTOR Daily reports on the saltwater roads, the routes that slaves in Florida used to escape to the free Bahamas.
- Language Log looks at some examples of bad English from Japan. How did they come about?
- Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns and Money rejects the idea of honouring people like Condoleezza Rice.
- Marginal Revolution considers the idea of free will in light of neurology.
- Corey S Powell at Out There interviews James Lovelock on his new book Novacene, in which Lovelock imagines the future world and Gaia taken over by AI.
- Window on Eurasia notes the water shortages faced by downstream countries in Central Asia.
Written by Randy McDonald
September 15, 2019 at 3:00 pm
Posted in Assorted, Economics, History, Politics, Popular Culture, Science, Social Sciences
Tagged with artificial intelligence, asteroids, astronomy, bahamas, bennu, blogs, caribbean, central asia, clash of ideologies, cold war, consciousness, earth, english language, environment, florida, futurology, galaxies, history, human beings, james lovelock, japan, large magellanic cloud, links, maps, migration, moon, photos, slavery, small magellanic cloud, space science, space travel, united states
[BLOG] Some Saturday links
- Architectuul looks at some architecturally innovative pools.
- Bad Astronomy’s Phil Plait looks at Wolf 359, a star made famous in Star Trek for the Starfleet battle there against the Borg but also a noteworthy red dwarf star in its own right.
- Centauri Dreams looks at how the NASA Deep Space Atomic Clock will play a vital role in interplanetary navigation.
- The Crux considers the “drunken monkey” thesis, the idea that drinking alcohol might have been an evolutionary asset for early hominids.
- D-Brief reports on what may be the next step for genetic engineering beyond CRISPR.
- Bruce Dorminey looks at how artificial intelligence may play a key role in searching for threat asteroids.
- The Island Review shares some poetry from Roseanne Watt, inspired by the Shetlands and using its dialect.
- Livia Gershon writes at JSTOR Daily about how YouTube, by promising to make work fun, actually also makes fun work in psychologically problematic ways.
- Marginal Revolution notes how the relatively small Taiwan has become a financial superpower.
- Janine di Giovanni at the NYR Daily looks back at the 2000 intervention in Sierra Leone. Why did it work?
- Jamais Cascio at Open the Future looks back at a 2004 futurological exercise, the rather accurate Participatory Panopticon. What did he anticipate correctly? How? What does it suggest for us now to our world?
- The Planetary Society Blog notes that LightSail 2 will launch before the end of June.
- Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel looks at how the discovery of gas between galaxies helps solve a dark matter question.
- Strange Company shares a broad collection of links.
- Window on Eurasia makes the obvious observation that the West prefers a North Caucasus controlled by Russia to one controlled by Islamists.
- Arnold Zwicky takes a look at American diner culture, including American Chinese food.
Written by Randy McDonald
June 8, 2019 at 6:30 pm
Posted in Assorted, Demographics, Economics, History, Politics, Popular Culture, Science, Social Sciences
Tagged with alcohol, architecture, artificial intelligence, asteroids, astronomy, blogs, dark matter, economics, evolution, futurology, genetic engineering, genetics, geopolitics, globalization, human beings, lightsail 2, links, north caucasus, physics, politics, popular culture, popular literature, psychology, red dwarfs, restaurants, russia, scotland, shetlands, sierra leone, social networking, solar sails, space science, space travel, star trek, taiwan, technology, united kingdom, war, west africa, wolf 359, youtube
[BLOG] Some Tuesday links
- In an extended meditation, Antipope’s Charlie Stross considers what the domestic architecture of the future will look like. What different technologies, with different uses of space, will come into play?
- Bad Astronomer Phil Plait looks at the new SPECULOOS exoplanet hunting telescope, specializing in the search for planets around the coolest stars.
- The Crux looks at the evolutionary origins of hominins and chimpanzees in an upright walking ape several million years ago.
- D-Brief notes the multiple detections of gravitational waves made by LIGO.
- The Dragon’s Tales looks at the development of laser weapons by China.
- Karen Sternheimer at the Everyday Sociology Blog looks at the gap between social theory and field research.
- Gizmodo shares an interesting discussion with paleontologists and other dinosaur experts: What would the dinosaurs have become if not for the Chixculub impact?
- Hornet Stories notes the ways in which the policies of the Satanic Temple would be good for queer students.
- io9 notes how the Deep Space 9 documentary What We Leave Behind imagines what a Season 8 would have looked like.
- Joe. My. God. reports that activist Jacob Wohl is apparently behind allegations of a sexual assault by Pete Buttigieg against a subordinate.
- JSTOR Daily takes a look at the uses of the yellow ribbon in American popular culture.
- Language Hat shares an account of the life experiences of an Israeli taxi driver, spread across languages and borders.
- Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns and Money makes deserved fun of Bret Easton Ellis for his claims to having been marginalized.
- Marginal Revolution considers, briefly, the idea that artificial intelligence might not be harmful to humans. (Why would it necessarily have to be?)
- The NYR Daily considers a British exhibition of artworks by artists from the former Czechoslovakia.
- Peter Rukavina looks at gender representation in party caucuses in PEI from the early 1990s on, noting the huge surge in female representation in the Greens now.
- The Signal looks at how the Library of Congress is preserving Latin American monographs.
- Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel explains how Einstein knew that gravity must bend light.
- Window on Eurasia explains the sharp drop in the ethnic Russian population of Tuva in the 1990s.
Written by Randy McDonald
April 30, 2019 at 5:00 pm
Posted in Assorted, Canada, Demographics, Economics, History, Politics, Popular Culture, Science, Social Sciences
Tagged with albert einstein, alternate history, architecture, artificial intelligence, astronomy, atlantic canada, birds, blogs, bonobos, canada, chimpanzees, china, chixculub, czech republic, czechoslovakia, deep space 9, Demographics, diaspora, dinosaurs, education, evolution, exoplanets, feminism, former soviet union, futurology, gender, glbt issues, gravitational waves, homo sapiens, human beings, israel, judaism, L-dwarf, latin america, libraries, ligo, links, migration, military, pete buttigieg, physics, politics, popular culture, popular literature, primates, prince edward island, public art, red dwarfs, religion, russia, satanism, Science, siberia, slovakia, social sciences, sociology, space science, star trek, technology, tuva, united kingdom, united states, yellow ribbon
[NEWS] Five tech links: Apple, AI, Beresheet 2, agricultural robots, gene editing
- Wired notes that Apple is transforming itself into a luxury brand. Is this an unsustainable niche?
- Wired examines how Google’s human AI experts are trying to train artificial intelligences to do their work.
- Universe Today notes that SpaceIL is planning to return to the Moon with a Beresheet 2 probe.
- The New Yorker looks at the progress made towards the roboticization of agriculture, looking at strawberry harvesting in particular. Can it be done?
- Stephen Buranyi writes at the NYR Daily about the impact of gene editing technologies on humanity. How will we manage them? Can we?
Written by Randy McDonald
April 17, 2019 at 11:20 pm
Posted in Assorted, Popular Culture, Science
Tagged with agriculture, apple, artificial intelligence, beresheet 2, computers, economics, futurology, genetics, google, links, moon, news, robots, shopping, space travel, strawberries, technology
[BLOG] Some Monday links
- Centauri Dreams notes the discovery of rocky debris indicative of destroyed planets in orbit of the white dwarf SDSS J122859.93+104032.9, 400 light-years away.
- JSTOR Daily shows how the Columbine massacre led to a resurgence of evangelical Christianity in the US.
- Language Log notes an example of digraphia, two scripts, in use in Taiwan.
- Lawyers, Guns and Money identifies the presidential run of Howard Schultz in ways unflattering to him yet accurate.
- The LRB Blog takes a look at the current, unsettling, stage of artificial intelligence research.
- At the NYR Daily, Boyd Tonkin writes about an exhibition of the works of Van Gogh at the Tate Britain highlighting his ties with England and with his Europeanness.
- Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel reports on the ultimate fate of the Earth, a cinder orbiting a black dwarf.
- Strange Company tells the strange, sad story of 19th century California writer Yda Hillis Addis.
- At Vintage Space, Amy Shira Teitel explains why the Apollo missions made use of a dangerous pure-oxygen environment.
- Window on Eurasia notes how, 41 years ago, protests in Georgia forced the Soviet Union to let the Georgian republic keep Georgian as its official language.
- Arnold Zwicky starts with peeps and goes on to look at dragons.
Written by Randy McDonald
April 15, 2019 at 2:00 pm
Posted in Assorted, Demographics, Economics, History, Politics, Popular Culture, Science, Social Sciences
Tagged with artificial intelligence, astronomy, black dwarf, blogs, california, chinese language, crime, earth, english language, former soviet union, france, futurology, georgia, howard schultz, humour, language, links, manned apollo missions, netherlands, oddities, politics, public art, religion, SDSS J122859.93+104032.9, solar system, south caucasus, space science, space travel, taiwan, technology, united states, white dwarf
[BLOG] Some Sunday links
- Centauri Dreams notes the remarkable imaging of the atmosphere of HR 8799 e.
- Crooked Timber starts a discussion about books that, once picked up, turned out to be as good as promised.
- The Crux considers obsidian, known in the Game of Thrones world as dragonglass.
- Bruce Dorminey notes that NASA is considering a proposal for a floating Venus probe that would be recharged by microwaves from orbit.</li.
- The Dragon’s Tales shares a report that Russia has developed a new satellite to work with a new anti-satellite weapons system.
- Far Outliers notes what U.S. Grant learned from the Mexican-American War, as a strategist and as a politician.
- L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing suggests, drawing from the image of M87*, that we have had a world disenchanted by the digital technology used to produce the image.
- JSTOR Daily shares what critical theory has to say about the binge-watching of television.
- Language Hat notes the Cherokee-language inscriptions on the wall of Manitou Cave.
- Language Log considers when the first conversing automaton was built.
- Lawyers, Guns and Money takes a look at a corner of 1970s feminism forgotten despite its innovative ideas.
- Marginal Revolution considers the idea of restricting some new migrants to particular regions of the United States.
- The NYR Daily explores the important new work by Igiaba Scego, Beyond Babylon.
- Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel answers a surprisingly complex question: What is an electron?
- Window on Eurasia explains why the cost of a professional military means Russia will not abandon the draft.
- Arnold Zwicky explores “johnson” as a euphemism for penis.
Written by Randy McDonald
April 14, 2019 at 3:30 pm
Posted in Assorted, Canada, History, Politics, Popular Culture, Science, Social Sciences
Tagged with artificial intelligence, astronomy, blogs, cherokee, citizenship, clash of ideologies, Demographics, feminism, first nations, gender, history, hr 8799, hr 8799 e, humour, igiaba scego, links, mexico, migration, military, obsidian, photography, physics, politics, popular culture, popular literature, russia, sexuality, space science, space travel, technology, television, united states, venus
[BLOG] Some Saturday links
- Bad Astronomy notes a push by astronomers to enlist help for giving trans-Neptunian object 2007-OR10 a name.
- Centauri Dreams reflects on M87*, the supermassive black hole at the heart of M87 recently imaged, with its implications for galactic habitability.
- Crooked Timber is right to note that Kirstjen Nielsen, architect of the cruel border policies of Trump, should not be allowed to resume a normal professional life.
- The Crux looks at the Event Horizon Telescope Project that imaged M87*.
- D-Brief notes that one-quarter of Japanese in their 20s and 30s have remained virgins, and explains why this might be the case.
- Far Outliers notes the process of the writing of U.S. Grant’s acclaimed memoirs.
- Mark Graham highlights a BBC documentary, one he contributed to, asking if artificial intelligence will kill global development.
- Gizmodo explains why the image of black hole M87* does not look exactly like the fictional one from the scientifically-grounded Interstellar.
- Hornet Stories explains the joys of Hawai’i in fall.
- io9 notes that the new Deep Space Nine anniversary documentary is scheduled for a one-day theatrical release. (Will it be in Toronto?)
- JSTOR Daily makes the point that mass enfranchisement is the best way to ensure security for all.
- Language Hat looks at the kitabs, the books written in Afrikaans using its original Arabic script kept by Cape Malays.
- Language Log notes, with examples, some of the uses of the words “black” and “evil” in contemporary China.
- Lawyers, Guns and Money makes the point that having a non-octogenarian president is a good idea.
- Marginal Revolution shares the thoughts of Samir Varma on the new technologies–better computers, faster travel, artificial life–that may change the world in the near future.
- The NYR Daily explores the subversive fairy tales of 19th century Frenchman Édouard Laboulaye.
- The Planetary Society Blog notes the sad crash of the Beresheet probe on the surface of the Moon.
- Drew Rowsome engages with the body of work of out horror writer John Saul.
- Peter Rukavina maps out where Islanders will be voting, and the distances they will travel, in this month’s election.
- Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel engages with the possibility that we might be alone. What next? (Myself, I think the idea of humanity as an elder race is fascinating.)
- Arnold Zwicky looks at the sort of humour that involves ambiguous adverbs.
Written by Randy McDonald
April 13, 2019 at 4:30 pm
Posted in Assorted, Canada, Economics, Politics, Popular Culture, Science, Social Sciences, Toronto
Tagged with afrikaans, artificial intelligence, astronomy, atlantic canada, black holes, blogs, books, canada, cape malays, china, chinese language, clash of ideologies, computers, crime, deep space 9, democracy, Demographics, economics, elections, english language, extraterrestrial intelligence, extraterrestrial life, fairy tales, france, futurology, genetics, glbt issues, globalization, hawaii, humour, islam, israel, japan, kirstejn nielsen, links, m87, m87*. kuiper belt, moon, politics, popular culture, popular literature, prince edward island, science fiction, sexuality, solar system, south africa, space science, space travel, star trek, technology, tourism, travel, united states
[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: anti-racist protest, AI at U of T, naloxone, TTC, Airbnb
- National Observer notes how, in Toronto, hundreds of anti-racist protesters blocked a far-right group.
- A $C 100 million donation has recently been made to the University of Toronto, to fund artificial intelligence research. CBC reports.
- Harm reduction activists want TTC operators to be trained in the usage of naloxone kits, to aid overdose victims. CBC reports.
- Transit Toronto notes its new Family of Services concept, intended to help Wheel-Trans users access wider city transit.
- Samantha Edwards writes at NOW Toronto about how Airbnb is worsening the living experiences of permanent residents in condo developments, by encouraging a more transient crowd less invested in local communities.
Written by Randy McDonald
March 26, 2019 at 6:30 pm
Posted in Assorted, Economics, Politics, Popular Culture, Social Sciences, Toronto, Urban Note
Tagged with airbnb, artificial intelligence, clash of ideologies, condos, drugs, health, mass transit, neighbourhoods, politics, toronto, ttc, university of toronto, Urban Note