The development of Watson stems from employers' inability to use human intelligence 100% instrumentally -- i.e., people can't be used as clocks. Once Watsons are prevalent, humans will be economically superfluous in nearly every area that requires thought. Our overlords won't even bother to bring out the old line about freeing up humans' time to do "better things."
I can see the NSF starting to issue CFPs for researchers to find Noah's Ark. What nobody realizes is that it's in the same warehouse as the Ark of the Covenant.
June 30, 2000: Slashdot reports that some overclockers have solved their cooling problem by immersing their motherboard in Fluorinert. Crazy kids. Who knew it would eventually catch on?
The LA Unified School District, starved for funds, has cut one week of instruction from the school year; it is threatening to cut a month from the school year if Proposition 30 (temporary tax hikes) doesn't go through. Public education in California is headed into the toilet, and it's taking the students with it.
Up until now, when my doctor prescribed something for me, I always looked at the datasheet the pharmacist gave me and sometimes looked the drug up on the NIH website to find out about the side effects. I am somewhat suggestible; would I be better off not looking at drug information lest I get psychosomatic side effects? I can see some potential problems, like dying due to my failing to read some other crucial parts of the datasheet.
It would follow that, in order to achieve these socially desirable ends,e.g., lower crime rates, governments and religions should instill and promulgate belief in a vengeful God and in divine punishment. Plato had much the same idea in his Republic when he introduced the idea of the "noble lie", a constructed mythology that would be taught to all in order to promote social harmony and love of the State. Excellent for the myth-makers, who shape our minds for our own good -- and their own benefit.
Isn't this story a little vaporwarish? The companies "hope to develop" these new techniques and materials. There's no mention of an underlying discovery which the two companies might help each other commercialize. There's just this idea -- "Gee, wouldn't it be cool if we could do this? Let's look into it!" Is this actually news yet?
I remember the first time California used the Emergency Alert System to broadcast the "Amber Alert" child abduction notices. When I was a kid, I had dreams of hearing those tones, followed by the announcement that a nuclear war had just begun. Now, my heart leapt into my throat -- we were all going to die. When the voice came on to say that there had been a child abduction, I was partially relieved -- by comparison to the prospect of nuclear annihilation -- but also royally pissed off. Really. Earthquake. Tornado. Nuclear war. Broadcast those on the Emergency Alert System. Not the other stuff.
I imagine InstallShield will license these at once for click-through software licenses which need fine print -- really fine print.
The wave of the future
on
Plagiarism Inc.
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
It is possible to foresee an educational model in which ghostwritten papers are sent straight to the outsourced graders, eliminating the inefficiencies that students and educational institutions bring to the process.
Considering the amount of computer-based identity fraud in the world, all this would accomplish is to get millions of people unjustly pegged for crimes they didn't commit. Suppose that identity is conferred via X.509 certificates. What is to stop a garden-variety rootkit/botnet from using these certificates for their own purposes? My spam trap is filled with hundreds of messages each day from unsuspecting victims; why would it make a difference if these messages were digitally signed?
The problems are
The falsifiability of the credentials.
The juridical ("DNA testing") status these credentials would take on.
For eons, West and Lexis have been making staggering sums reselling primary legal material to all and sundry. Best of luck to this project in prying that material out of their hands, and in surviving the massive lobbying and astroturfing that will ensue before the project achieves that goal.
Modern scientists do not believe in Zeno's paradox. This is an ancient article, but take a look at Adolf Grünbaum's "Modern Science and Zeno's Paradoxes of Motion," circa 1968. It's reprinted in Zeno's Paradoxes, edited by Wesley C. Salmon.
The joke's still funny, but it stereotypes scientists as theory-crazed and impractical -- which I suppose is the typical point of view of an engineer.
Let's suppose, for the sake of argument, that all the websites out there started charging the eminently "reasonable" $5/month for access to content. In truth, it is likely that sites run by the likes of Barry Diller will charge decidedly more than this.
Before the economic collapse, I had a monthly books/CDs/entertainment budget of, say, $150. After the collapse, that budget is closer to $40. Assuming that I choose to spend 100% of my discretionary income on nothing but paid websites, and assuming that these will all be the cheapest, $5/month websites, that gets me eight websites, out of all the sites available on the Internet. I might as well shut down my browser and head to my library to peruse some dead trees.
I can't be the only person like this. Mark my words: the Internet will route around this damage.
Aptera (http://www.aptera.com) has done exactly this. They have gotten the California Department of Transportation to classify their three-wheeled hybrid vehicles as motorcycles. Goodbye, automobile safety standards. Of course, potential drivers of the vehicle might be surprised at the hurdle of getting a motorcycle endorsement on their license, and possibly a little peeved at the need to wear helmets while driving.
(ObNothing: Those rule-flouting "tough guys" who wear the "Kaiser Wilhelm" bare-minimum-required-headgear helmets must be a neurologist's wish come true.)
I realize that plagiarism detection represents an interesting problem in computer science, and that it goes some distance toweard solving a serious problem. However, I read an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, behind a paywall, alas, which leads me to believe that it is only a partial solution to academic dishonesty. The article suggested that, thanks to the Internet, the costs of human capital are now so low that hiring a ghostwriter to compose one's papers, sidestepping the problem of plagiarism to begin with, is far more expedient than plagiarism itself. It described a Russian-"businessman"-headed network of Filipino paper-writers, most paid between $1 and $3 a page, who are able to market their services to the West through a web site and remote call centers. At $20/page to the end-user, with no possibility of plagiarism detection, I think that most desperate students would find this a good deal. In my opinion, ghostwriting will supplant plagiarism as time goes on.
What is a teacher to do? In-class writing samples would seem to be the only hope of detecting ghostwriting. Students could, of course, argue that at home, they can "polish" their papers, and that therefore they will not resemble the in-class samples. Moreover, checking samples against papers is a thankless and time-consuming task which is only a preliminary to actually evaluating the work. Perhaps there is a computer-based solution to this, but, in the meantime, perhaps potential ghostwriting customers could take their desires to their logical conclusion, and simply buy their degrees on the Internet directly.
From what I can see, Bircher failed to answer a single direct question -- and the questions asked were pretty direct. The interview was vague; it gave the impression that the mission is diffuse and mired in bureaucracy. Somebody there needs to have a clue, but it's not clear how that clue can be imparted.
I absolutely agree about ooo's commenting system -- viz., it really sucks. I rely on Word's commenting system for my work, which is manuscript editing; Writer's does not begin to compete. If the commenting system could be significantly upgraded, I could go all-open-source. As it is, Crossover Office is my friend.
Shrink-wrap licenses could be found to be "contracts of adhesion" -- contracts whose terms cannot readily be negotiated by the person accepting them. Contracts of adhesion are legal -- you enter into one every time that you park your car and get a claim check -- but they can be found to be inequitable.
"Legal knowledge is free. All court cases and laws on the books are accessible at zero cost."
Baloney.
It takes tens of thousands of dollars to furnish even a minimal law library. A single multi-volume treatise like Witkin's "California Procedure" can run you $1100 easily. Cases on-line? Lexis/Nexis and Westlaw cost an arm and a leg themselves.
Your analogy is simply dreadful.
(When I think of how much money I've sunk into programming books over the years, I *wish* you were right about knowledge being free.)
Slashdot Mirror
The development of Watson stems from employers' inability to use human intelligence 100% instrumentally -- i.e., people can't be used as clocks. Once Watsons are prevalent, humans will be economically superfluous in nearly every area that requires thought. Our overlords won't even bother to bring out the old line about freeing up humans' time to do "better things."
I can see the NSF starting to issue CFPs for researchers to find Noah's Ark. What nobody realizes is that it's in the same warehouse as the Ark of the Covenant.
June 30, 2000: Slashdot reports that some overclockers have solved their cooling problem by immersing their motherboard in Fluorinert. Crazy kids. Who knew it would eventually catch on?
The LA Unified School District, starved for funds, has cut one week of instruction from the school year; it is threatening to cut a month from the school year if Proposition 30 (temporary tax hikes) doesn't go through. Public education in California is headed into the toilet, and it's taking the students with it.
Up until now, when my doctor prescribed something for me, I always looked at the datasheet the pharmacist gave me and sometimes looked the drug up on the NIH website to find out about the side effects. I am somewhat suggestible; would I be better off not looking at drug information lest I get psychosomatic side effects? I can see some potential problems, like dying due to my failing to read some other crucial parts of the datasheet.
It would follow that, in order to achieve these socially desirable ends,e.g., lower crime rates, governments and religions should instill and promulgate belief in a vengeful God and in divine punishment. Plato had much the same idea in his Republic when he introduced the idea of the "noble lie", a constructed mythology that would be taught to all in order to promote social harmony and love of the State. Excellent for the myth-makers, who shape our minds for our own good -- and their own benefit.
I wouldn't be surprised if some people took the cart outside, drove away with the Kinect and the tablet, and left the groceries.
Isn't this story a little vaporwarish? The companies "hope to develop" these new techniques and materials. There's no mention of an underlying discovery which the two companies might help each other commercialize. There's just this idea -- "Gee, wouldn't it be cool if we could do this? Let's look into it!" Is this actually news yet?
I remember the first time California used the Emergency Alert System to broadcast the "Amber Alert" child abduction notices. When I was a kid, I had dreams of hearing those tones, followed by the announcement that a nuclear war had just begun. Now, my heart leapt into my throat -- we were all going to die. When the voice came on to say that there had been a child abduction, I was partially relieved -- by comparison to the prospect of nuclear annihilation -- but also royally pissed off. Really. Earthquake. Tornado. Nuclear war. Broadcast those on the Emergency Alert System. Not the other stuff.
The pictures of this car raise two small and eminently answerable questions:
1. How do you see out the rear window to back up?
2. How do you change the rear tires? Are there removable panels I'm not seeing?
I imagine InstallShield will license these at once for click-through software licenses which need fine print -- really fine print.
It is possible to foresee an educational model in which ghostwritten papers are sent straight to the outsourced graders, eliminating the inefficiencies that students and educational institutions bring to the process.
Considering the amount of computer-based identity fraud in the world, all this would accomplish is to get millions of people unjustly pegged for crimes they didn't commit. Suppose that identity is conferred via X.509 certificates. What is to stop a garden-variety rootkit/botnet from using these certificates for their own purposes? My spam trap is filled with hundreds of messages each day from unsuspecting victims; why would it make a difference if these messages were digitally signed?
The problems are
For eons, West and Lexis have been making staggering sums reselling primary legal material to all and sundry. Best of luck to this project in prying that material out of their hands, and in surviving the massive lobbying and astroturfing that will ensue before the project achieves that goal.
Modern scientists do not believe in Zeno's paradox. This is an ancient article, but take a look at Adolf Grünbaum's "Modern Science and Zeno's Paradoxes of Motion," circa 1968. It's reprinted in Zeno's Paradoxes, edited by Wesley C. Salmon.
The joke's still funny, but it stereotypes scientists as theory-crazed and impractical -- which I suppose is the typical point of view of an engineer.
If the laser beams only detect and disable CCDs, then, in theory, conventional cameras should be unaffected.
Let's suppose, for the sake of argument, that all the websites out there started charging the eminently "reasonable" $5/month for access to content. In truth, it is likely that sites run by the likes of Barry Diller will charge decidedly more than this.
Before the economic collapse, I had a monthly books/CDs/entertainment budget of, say, $150. After the collapse, that budget is closer to $40. Assuming that I choose to spend 100% of my discretionary income on nothing but paid websites, and assuming that these will all be the cheapest, $5/month websites, that gets me eight websites, out of all the sites available on the Internet. I might as well shut down my browser and head to my library to peruse some dead trees.
I can't be the only person like this. Mark my words: the Internet will route around this damage.
Aptera (http://www.aptera.com) has done exactly this. They have gotten the California Department of Transportation to classify their three-wheeled hybrid vehicles as motorcycles. Goodbye, automobile safety standards. Of course, potential drivers of the vehicle might be surprised at the hurdle of getting a motorcycle endorsement on their license, and possibly a little peeved at the need to wear helmets while driving.
(ObNothing: Those rule-flouting "tough guys" who wear the "Kaiser Wilhelm" bare-minimum-required-headgear helmets must be a neurologist's wish come true.)
I realize that plagiarism detection represents an interesting problem in computer science, and that it goes some distance toweard solving a serious problem. However, I read an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, behind a paywall, alas, which leads me to believe that it is only a partial solution to academic dishonesty. The article suggested that, thanks to the Internet, the costs of human capital are now so low that hiring a ghostwriter to compose one's papers, sidestepping the problem of plagiarism to begin with, is far more expedient than plagiarism itself. It described a Russian-"businessman"-headed network of Filipino paper-writers, most paid between $1 and $3 a page, who are able to market their services to the West through a web site and remote call centers. At $20/page to the end-user, with no possibility of plagiarism detection, I think that most desperate students would find this a good deal. In my opinion, ghostwriting will supplant plagiarism as time goes on.
What is a teacher to do? In-class writing samples would seem to be the only hope of detecting ghostwriting. Students could, of course, argue that at home, they can "polish" their papers, and that therefore they will not resemble the in-class samples. Moreover, checking samples against papers is a thankless and time-consuming task which is only a preliminary to actually evaluating the work. Perhaps there is a computer-based solution to this, but, in the meantime, perhaps potential ghostwriting customers could take their desires to their logical conclusion, and simply buy their degrees on the Internet directly.
From what I can see, Bircher failed to answer a single direct question -- and the questions asked were pretty direct. The interview was vague; it gave the impression that the mission is diffuse and mired in bureaucracy. Somebody there needs to have a clue, but it's not clear how that clue can be imparted.
I absolutely agree about ooo's commenting system -- viz., it really sucks. I rely on Word's commenting system for my work, which is manuscript editing; Writer's does not begin to compete. If the commenting system could be significantly upgraded, I could go all-open-source. As it is, Crossover Office is my friend.
Move to idyllic Stepford!
"I'll take my page out of the books of Job and Woz, thanks."
If you're going to take a page out of the Book of Job, be ready for some major skin disease.
Shrink-wrap licenses could be found to be "contracts of adhesion" -- contracts whose terms cannot readily be negotiated by the person accepting them. Contracts of adhesion are legal -- you enter into one every time that you park your car and get a claim check -- but they can be found to be inequitable.
"Legal knowledge is free. All court cases and laws on the books are accessible at zero cost."
Baloney.
It takes tens of thousands of dollars to furnish even a minimal law library. A single multi-volume treatise like Witkin's "California Procedure" can run you $1100 easily. Cases on-line? Lexis/Nexis and Westlaw cost an arm and a leg themselves.
Your analogy is simply dreadful.
(When I think of how much money I've sunk into programming books over the years, I *wish* you were right about knowledge being free.)