On the 23rd of last March, Microsoft launched an ambitious experiment on machines’ ability to learn and evolve mentally in real time. The goal of the experiment was to show …
short history of computers
Every modern computer is, in essence, supposed to be a physical implementation of an ideal machine, the universal Turing machine that can compute any computable function. Extremely simple in conception, …
familiarity count
A recent survey of 1,002 adults in England, on topics related to the (and technological) future, yielded answers that are quite interesting. – Although 60% to 72% (depending on the …
social cats
The site iknowwhereyourcatlives.com is an online page – a project by a professor at the University of Florida. It displays a world map with little cats at the spot where …
eterna
Some extol the “intellectual” capabilities of machines, others make sure to harvest the crowd-intellectual capabilities. Or, more accurately, collective human intelligence; they can call it that (for now) without risk. …
scientific truths
Could radioactivity be less harmful than we think? Wildlife has “returned” next to the concrete shell of the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine, which 30 years ago became a nightmare …
housekeeper
This elegant, understated, pastel-colored, vase-like object on the right side of the photograph belongs to the category of things that will soon become commonplace. Not around here, at first—but what …
knowledge accelerator
It could be the plot of a futuristic movie. Yet it is an idea for the organized devaluation of (also) intellectual labor. Not “sector by sector,” but as a general …
genetic sins
Although the mapping of (still only a tiny fraction of) human DNA and the DNA of other species may not deliver the magical gene correlations and “solutions” desired by marketers …
mites
These are images that only an electronic eye (an electron microscope in this case) could show us. And you will feel great disgust as soon as you learn what they …
farmers in offices
What urban farming? That’s old news. Let’s go for office farming! The Japanese company Pasona group, which specializes in providing advice on personnel selection and management and work organization, offers …
Alien Aggressor
The Russian engineer and welder (old specialty…) Sergei Kulagin (right) and his friends are assembling a robot they have baptized “Alien Aggressor”, a beast 3 meters tall and weighing 600 …