My guess is that since the manuscript was sold to the Emperor Rudolph who was very interested in weird wacky stuff that it probably was made to be sold to him. In other words, it probably is a bunch of gibberish meant to look interesting.
On the other hand, maybe it's a coded message from Roger Bacon on how to create free energy.;)
The next big thing I think would be a "smart" translator that can do pattern recognition and "learn" as it gets more of the language. IIRC This is how the star trek translators work.
No. The Star Trek translators work by mapping concepts in the mind of one being to concepts in the mind of another being. If you don't believe me then watch the Star Trek (The Old Series) episode "Metamorphosis." Kirk explains the technology behind the Universal Translator to Zephram Cochrane.
IIRC there have been tours to the north pole that people could take on a nuclear powered russian ice breaker. No need to drive a sleigh across the ice. Just sit back and sip martinis while the ship breaks all the ice to get to the pole.
IIRC he was featured on one of those shows like 'to tell the truth' back in the 50's. At the end of the show it was revealed that he was the inventor of television.
Your posted link says that Nipkow's system didn't work. Philo T. Farnsworth's system did. Just because Nipkow postulates that television is possible doesn't make him the inventor.
like a Philip K. Dick short story. Brilliant guy comes up with a world-shattering invention only to get robbed by the fat cats and then loses his mind.
In theory they would be able to patch the code, recompile, etc. In practice the Navy doesn't have all that many ueberhackers in its rangs. It can't afford to put one aboard each ship that leaves port.
Yeah that would be funny, every naval warship getting a Linux uberhacker to fix any problems on the fly!
Can anyone name some scientists of the newest generation worth watching, now?
Sure. A recent book called Bold Science: Seven Scientists Who Are Changing The World by Ted Anton has essays on the following scientists:
Crain Venter
Susan Greenfield
Geoffrey Marcy
Polly Matzinger
Saul Perlmutter
Gretchen Daily
Carl Woese
Certainly, I don't think all of these scientists truly are changing the world but a few of them truly do seem to be challenging the boundaries of our knowledge esp. Saul Perlmutter, Geoffrey Marcy and Carl Woese.
Sometimes peers seek to stifle others new ideas either because they compete with their own or because they simply do not understand them.
For instance, Merkle could not get his breakthrough in cryptology published because his peers did not deem the work valid. So much for peers.
Another case is that of Dr. Blobel who discovered how proteins find their way in cells. His ideas were rejected by his peers and he had difficulty in getting funding. Nevertheless he continued to fight for about twenty years to perform his research and eventually won the Nobel prize.
Still peers who are friends can sometimes have a beneficial effect by making sure one is not making mistakes. I think Wolfram was trying to get this kind of peer review.
At any rate, I don't think Wolfram's book is revolutionary but just a bunch of hype by someone with an oversized ego.
So is he getting any new insights? Simplifying the calculations? Or is he just rearranging the the mathematical furniture?
It seems to me like he is simply rearranging the mathematical furniture. I have read many of the sample pages from his web site and it just seems like he is rehashing existing ideas/algorithms as CAs. For instance, he shows an example of the Sieve of Eratosthenes as a Cellular Automaton. Big deal.
Now, if that's not a bad attitude I don't know what is. I suppose he could be excused though. He's pretty much as close to the stereotype mad scientist recluse as anyone will ever get.
I've heard that there are a couple of stages.
When people are pretty smart then they are arrogant. When they are truly geniuses then they are humble because they know they don't know everything (because they're that smart!).
I guess this would put Wolfram in the sub-genius level since he isn't smart enough to realize that he doesn't know everything.
I doubt too many care. Too many people have stopped watching the show myself included. Who cares? The show did get too out-of-control. I think that stuff seemed to happen almost at random. Beyond the level of believability for that universe.
If you don't know that it can't be done, then you try and maybe you'll succeed. Just because people think it can't be done doesn't mean that it's impossible to do.
You never know when some pesky Canadians on a training exercise in Afganistan will suddenly turn their weapons on an American F16.
I know this may sound like a joke but the military did turn around and perform a study of how to defend the U.S. against Canada right after WWII, I think, mostly because there was nothing to do (all the bad guys had been defeated).
Really, I think, the exercise of how to defend against an attack by Canada was more for practice than for anything else.
I do think they're afraid that the next Great American Director will be able to edit the next Great American film on his Powerbook, stream it himself on the Internet, and not have to use their distribution system to get known.
It almost sounds as if you're talking about George Lucas. Lucas owns his own film company - Lucasfilm. He owns his own effects company - ILM. He owns his own sound company - THX. He isn't beholden to any studio or consumer, IIRC. Heck he even said that he made Phantom Menace for himself and not really for others. That explains why it's such an awful movie. He didn't care what others thought. Anyway, he can deal directly with each theater or whatever and doesn't have to deal with the studios unless he's trying to deal with studio owned movie theaters.
Yeah, I guess they'd be afraid that other directors would go his way too.
I think Gaiman's American Gods [slashdot.org] is the clear winner in the Novel category, although I say this without having read any of the other nominees. But, I feel confident in saying this because it is one of the best books I have read in years.
Well then you really can't say its the clear winner now can you? You should read all of them and then make your prediction.
Slashdot Mirror
BMG? I don't want to buy from them or from the companies that they own. This f*ck the consumer crap is ridiculous.
54 years ago??? Gadzooks! You must be really old!
Bring back LEXX. Now that's quality programming!
that doesn't seem very accurate at all for c(gravity).
On the other hand, maybe it's a coded message from Roger Bacon on how to create free energy. ;)
Noooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!
No. The Star Trek translators work by mapping concepts in the mind of one being to concepts in the mind of another being. If you don't believe me then watch the Star Trek (The Old Series) episode "Metamorphosis." Kirk explains the technology behind the Universal Translator to Zephram Cochrane.
IIRC there have been tours to the north pole that people could take on a nuclear powered russian ice breaker. No need to drive a sleigh across the ice. Just sit back and sip martinis while the ship breaks all the ice to get to the pole.
IIRC he was featured on one of those shows like 'to tell the truth' back in the 50's. At the end of the show it was revealed that he was the inventor of television.
Your posted link says that Nipkow's system didn't work. Philo T. Farnsworth's system did. Just because Nipkow postulates that television is possible doesn't make him the inventor.
like a Philip K. Dick short story. Brilliant guy comes up with a world-shattering invention only to get robbed by the fat cats and then loses his mind.
Yeah that would be funny, every naval warship getting a Linux uberhacker to fix any problems on the fly!
Sure. A recent book called Bold Science: Seven Scientists Who Are Changing The World by Ted Anton has essays on the following scientists:
Crain Venter
Susan Greenfield
Geoffrey Marcy
Polly Matzinger
Saul Perlmutter
Gretchen Daily
Carl Woese
Certainly, I don't think all of these scientists truly are changing the world but a few of them truly do seem to be challenging the boundaries of our knowledge esp. Saul Perlmutter, Geoffrey Marcy and Carl Woese.
The book is a good though short read.
Sometimes peers seek to stifle others new ideas either because they compete with their own or because they simply do not understand them.
For instance, Merkle could not get his breakthrough in cryptology published because his peers did not deem the work valid. So much for peers.
Another case is that of Dr. Blobel who discovered how proteins find their way in cells. His ideas were rejected by his peers and he had difficulty in getting funding. Nevertheless he continued to fight for about twenty years to perform his research and eventually won the Nobel prize.
Still peers who are friends can sometimes have a beneficial effect by making sure one is not making mistakes. I think Wolfram was trying to get this kind of peer review.
At any rate, I don't think Wolfram's book is revolutionary but just a bunch of hype by someone with an oversized ego.
It seems to me like he is simply rearranging the mathematical furniture. I have read many of the sample pages from his web site and it just seems like he is rehashing existing ideas/algorithms as CAs. For instance, he shows an example of the Sieve of Eratosthenes as a Cellular Automaton. Big deal.
I've heard that there are a couple of stages.
When people are pretty smart then they are arrogant. When they are truly geniuses then they are humble because they know they don't know everything (because they're that smart!).
I guess this would put Wolfram in the sub-genius level since he isn't smart enough to realize that he doesn't know everything.
Didn't Moon-unit Zappa invent valley girl speak or did she just popularize it?
I doubt too many care. Too many people have stopped watching the show myself included. Who cares? The show did get too out-of-control. I think that stuff seemed to happen almost at random. Beyond the level of believability for that universe.
My keyboard and mouse on the other hand are spotless.
Don't forget Mr. X! He was spooky.
If you don't know that it can't be done, then you try and maybe you'll succeed. Just because people think it can't be done doesn't mean that it's impossible to do.
I know this may sound like a joke but the military did turn around and perform a study of how to defend the U.S. against Canada right after WWII, I think, mostly because there was nothing to do (all the bad guys had been defeated).
Really, I think, the exercise of how to defend against an attack by Canada was more for practice than for anything else.
While that is true. It is also true that their intention was (is?) to create a petaflop computer ergo the title to the following link:
http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/sj/402/allen.h tml
It almost sounds as if you're talking about George Lucas. Lucas owns his own film company - Lucasfilm. He owns his own effects company - ILM. He owns his own sound company - THX. He isn't beholden to any studio or consumer, IIRC. Heck he even said that he made Phantom Menace for himself and not really for others. That explains why it's such an awful movie. He didn't care what others thought. Anyway, he can deal directly with each theater or whatever and doesn't have to deal with the studios unless he's trying to deal with studio owned movie theaters.
Yeah, I guess they'd be afraid that other directors would go his way too.
Well then you really can't say its the clear winner now can you? You should read all of them and then make your prediction.