"Characters even have the ability to dynamically create their own language, constructing simple sentences on a word by word basis."
I wonder whether this means creating new words and then constructing sentences using the new words, or if the characters will be given a lexicon and a grammar and will produce sentences using them.
The first case is quite time consuming. Many iterations of language development "games" are required to produce a common language. Also most of the language development processes that have been proposed only produce a limited subset of the syntactic categories. There would also be the problem of the person playing the game being unable to understand the AI characters. (For information on language development see http://www.csl.sony.fr/General/Publications/Biblio graphyItem.php3?reference=steels%3A99f)
In the second case, would the characters be able to produce syntactically correct sentences? The 'goodness' of the sentences would depend, I guess, on the size of the lexicon and the complexity of the grammar rules. However producing complex sentences would make it more difficult for other characters to understand them, due to the difficulties of parsing a rich language. I just hope it doesn't end up being a (subject, object verb) language with no real syntax.
I will be interested to see just how this turns out.
What amused me the most was the comment about the kids doing things that adults couldn't understand. Children learn at a faster rate than adults, especially it seems where technology is concerned. This can be seen by looking at the case of programming a video. In most households it is the children who are most able to use technology to its fullest.
I would be interested to know whether a childs ability to learn how to use computers (or other technology) is to do with their natural inquisitiveness and readiness to try new things(as opposed to the technophobia that many older people show), or whether there is some sort of 'critical period' (such as for syntax) after which it becomes more difficult to learn such things. This study would seem to suggest that it is not only the increasing contact with computers that makes children more skilled in their use, since these are kids who have never seen (or heard of) computers before.
I don't really see this as being any different than other forms of advertising. So it pretends to be something other than an ad. Don't product placements also do that?? So its aimed at children. So is any advertising done in kids movies. The lead character in some movie wears a starter jacket and the next day every child in the world wants a jacket just like it. This is no different. It is just the same ideas repackaged
Slahsdot fills a different niche, one more similar to that of newspapers than to research sites. The purpose of slashdot is to provide an overview of many different areas. The new search idea would, as I understand it, work best on very narrow (esoteric perhaps) fields, such as the research into a certain area of a certain discipline. Because slashdot is more general it won't have the same community type setup and will likely not be effected by this new way of searching
I agree that students don't necessarily take the platform on which they learn out into the real world with them, I first learnt on Macs, but I would rather not have to program on them.
I have also programmed on both Windows boxes and Linux boxes, with Linux being the most recent. From this experience I know that given the choice I would rather work on a Linux box. This choice would be partly based on the open source idea (guess I am still in my hippy stage) but mostly based on the fact that I find it easier and more enjoyable working under a Linux environment than a Windows one. This is mostly due to the ease with which you can obtain and upgrade software and also because Linux can be customised to be almost perfect for my needs
Ahh the advertisers are starting to get smarter. Now someone just needs to put advertising in lifts where they show the floor number, because when you're in a lift you always stare at the numbers rather than making eye contact.
But really is this such a big step? Right now Universities/Colleges accept money from businesses to aid in research, and businesses donate money for scholarships and the like. Many Universities/Colleges couldn't undertake research, or support there post-graduates if not for the money given to them by businesses. Is this altruism on the part of the business community? No, this is just advertising since all most of the businesses get out of it is the exposure of having there name touted about the place.
The more advertising, the more money Universities have, and the better it is for us students!
Slashdot Mirror
"Characters even have the ability to dynamically create their own language, constructing simple sentences on a word by word basis."
o graphyItem.php3?reference=steels%3A99f)
I wonder whether this means creating new words and then constructing sentences using the new words, or if the characters will be given a lexicon and a grammar and will produce sentences using them.
The first case is quite time consuming. Many iterations of language development "games" are required to produce a common language. Also most of the language development processes that have been proposed only produce a limited subset of the syntactic categories. There would also be the problem of the person playing the game being unable to understand the AI characters. (For information on language development see http://www.csl.sony.fr/General/Publications/Bibli
In the second case, would the characters be able to produce syntactically correct sentences? The 'goodness' of the sentences would depend, I guess, on the size of the lexicon and the complexity of the grammar rules. However producing complex sentences would make it more difficult for other characters to understand them, due to the difficulties of parsing a rich language. I just hope it doesn't end up being a (subject, object verb) language with no real syntax.
I will be interested to see just how this turns out.
What amused me the most was the comment about the kids doing things that adults couldn't understand. Children learn at a faster rate than adults, especially it seems where technology is concerned. This can be seen by looking at the case of programming a video. In most households it is the children who are most able to use technology to its fullest.
I would be interested to know whether a childs ability to learn how to use computers (or other technology) is to do with their natural inquisitiveness and readiness to try new things(as opposed to the technophobia that many older people show), or whether there is some sort of 'critical period' (such as for syntax) after which it becomes more difficult to learn such things. This study would seem to suggest that it is not only the increasing contact with computers that makes children more skilled in their use, since these are kids who have never seen (or heard of) computers before.
I don't really see this as being any different than other forms of advertising. So it pretends to be something other than an ad. Don't product placements also do that?? So its aimed at children. So is any advertising done in kids movies. The lead character in some movie wears a starter jacket and the next day every child in the world wants a jacket just like it. This is no different. It is just the same ideas repackaged
Slahsdot fills a different niche, one more similar to that of newspapers than to research sites. The purpose of slashdot is to provide an overview of many different areas. The new search idea would, as I understand it, work best on very narrow (esoteric perhaps) fields, such as the research into a certain area of a certain discipline. Because slashdot is more general it won't have the same community type setup and will likely not be effected by this new way of searching
I agree that students don't necessarily take the platform on which they learn out into the real world with them, I first learnt on Macs, but I would rather not have to program on them.
I have also programmed on both Windows boxes and Linux boxes, with Linux being the most recent. From this experience I know that given the choice I would rather work on a Linux box. This choice would be partly based on the open source idea (guess I am still in my hippy stage) but mostly based on the fact that I find it easier and more enjoyable working under a Linux environment than a Windows one. This is mostly due to the ease with which you can obtain and upgrade software and also because Linux can be customised to be almost perfect for my needs
Ahh the advertisers are starting to get smarter. Now someone just needs to put advertising in lifts where they show the floor number, because when you're in a lift you always stare at the numbers rather than making eye contact.
But really is this such a big step? Right now Universities/Colleges accept money from businesses to aid in research, and businesses donate money for scholarships and the like. Many Universities/Colleges couldn't undertake research, or support there post-graduates if not for the money given to them by businesses. Is this altruism on the part of the business community? No, this is just advertising since all most of the businesses get out of it is the exposure of having there name touted about the place.
The more advertising, the more money Universities have, and the better it is for us students!
Yip, we are all corrupt wee buggers. This however is putting a lot of power in the hands of a small group of corrupt wee buggers.
Imagine the possibilities of financial gain by selling a companies encryption keys and the like to one of its competitors.
Looks like the the way to make money is no longer I.T. Think I'll sod off and join the Australian Security Service