It is one of those scientific procedures that (with our limited minds) we would hardly consider truly “scientific”: first (some claim) they found the genes for A or B, and …
Instructions for aspiring cyber athletes
We translate as an example some sections of a post from the League of Legends subreddit “summoner school” titled “How to actually improve at League of Legends (not just tips).” …
The all seeing eye
In Neuromancer, Gibson’s novel that introduced the concept of cyberspace, the heroine who made the greatest impression on the audience was Molly Millions. A tough mercenary, cyborg, with a plethora …
cybernetics
The gentleman in the first photograph is the renowned linguist Roman Jakobson, one of the principal (if not the principal) founders of structuralism in linguistics. Taking Saussure’s theories as his …
Artificial racism
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 …