Artificial Stupidity Artificial Stupidity by Ali Minai "My colleagues, they study artificial intelligence; me, I study natural stupidity." —Amos Tversky, (quoted in “The Undoing Project” by Michael Lewis). Not only is this quote by Tversky amusing, it also offers profound insight into the nature of intelligence – real and artificial. The work of Tversky and Kahneman focused on showing systematically that much of intelligence is not rational. The field of AI began with the conceit that, ultimately, everything is computation, and that reproducing intelligence – even life itself – was only a matter of finding the “correct” algorithms. When an animal produces a fruitful or futile behavior, it is because of how the electrical and chemical activity of its cells (including the neurons of the nervous system) is shaped by this interaction. One of the biggest gaps between AI and natural intelligence is speed. Two things may provide some insight here.
Biopunk: DIY Scientists Hack the Software of Life has covered startup culture, the maker scene, and the marijuana industry as a reporter in the San Francisco bureau of The Associated Press. His first book, , was published this week by Current. I asked him to contribute a few pieces about the biotech underground to run on Boing Boing. Here's the first one. HACK/OPEN: DNA, DIY and the right to do The first time I met Meredith Patterson, she lived in a weird old apartment building plunked down in Pacific Heights, just below where the street rose to an epic view of San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate.
The Rise of Biohackers Innovation is the Holy Grail for enterprises. Yet the big innovative leaps tend to crouch in tiny garages and on kitchen tables at the hands of do-it-yourself (DIY) tinkerers rather than in business’ big-monied labs. That pattern in technological evolutionary pulses is still occurring today. These brave new hackers are carving our future on a shoestring and a prayer, just as innovative icons have done – from Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard (who began HP in a garage), to Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak (who hand-built the first Apple personal computer kit) to Bill Gates (who scored a demo meeting with a microcomputer manufacturer for software he hadn’t yet written for a computer he didn’t own). This new breed of at-home, do-it-yourself innovators and entrepreneurs are called the biohackers, although some prefer to be called “biopunks” since the term “hackers” has gained a negative connotation. Birthing of the Biopunks So, what is biohacking, you ask? The Invisible Visible Biopunks
Divergent thinking Divergent thinking is a thought process or method used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions. It is often used in conjunction with its cognitive opposite, convergent thinking, which follows a particular set of logical steps to arrive at one solution, which in some cases is a ‘correct’ solution. By contrast, divergent thinking typically occurs in a spontaneous, free-flowing manner, such that many ideas are generated in an emergent cognitive fashion. Many possible solutions are explored in a short amount of time, and unexpected connections are drawn. After the process of divergent thinking has been completed, ideas and information are organized and structured using convergent thinking. Traits associated with divergent thinking[edit] Psychologists have found that a high IQ (like Albert Einstein) alone does not guarantee creativity. Promoting divergent thinking[edit] Playfulness and divergent thinking[edit] Effects of sleep deprivation on divergent thinking[edit] 1.
Disinfectants 'train' superbugs to resist antibiotics Disinfectants could effectively train bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics, research suggests. Scientists know bacteria can become inured to disinfectant, but research increasingly shows the same process may make them resistant to certain drugs. This can occur even with an antibiotic the bacteria have not been exposed to. Writing in Microbiology, the National University of Ireland team, who focused on a common hospital bacterium, urges a rethink of how infections are managed. Scientists in Galway found that by adding increasing amounts of disinfectant to cultures of pseudomonas aeruginosa in the lab, the bacteria learnt to resist not only the disinfectant but also ciprofloxacin - a commonly-prescribed antibiotic - even without being exposed to it. The researchers report the bacteria had adapted to pump out anti-microbial agents - be they a disinfectant or an antibiotic - from their cells. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a bacterium most likely to infect those who are already seriously ill.
the-mammoth-cometh Photo The first time Ben Novak saw a passenger pigeon, he fell to his knees and remained in that position, speechless, for 20 minutes. He was 16. At 13, Novak vowed to devote his life to resurrecting extinct animals. Continue reading the main story List of computer simulation software The following is a list of notable computer simulation software. Open Source[edit] Proprietary[edit] Can Hobbyists and Hackers Transform Biotechnology? For most of us, managing our health means visiting a doctor. The more serious our concerns, the more specialized a medical expert we seek. Our bodies often feel like foreign and frightening lands, and we are happy to let someone with an MD serve as our tour guide. For most of us, our own DNA never makes it onto our personal reading list. Biohackers are on a mission to change all that. In Biopunk, journalist Marcus Wohlsen surveys the rising tide of the biohacker movement, which has been made possible by a convergence of better and cheaper technologies. Wohlson discovers that biohackers, like the open-source programmers and software hackers who came before, are united by a profound idealism. Things ReviewedBiopunk: DIY Scientists Hack the Software of LifeBy Marcus Wohlsen Current, $25.95 With all their ingenuity and idealism, it’s difficult not to root for the biohackers Wohlsen meets.
Single-Cell Genomics Allows Identification of New Cell Types How many types of cells are there in the human body? Textbooks say a couple of hundred. But the true number is undoubtedly far larger. Piece by piece, a new, more detailed catalogue of cell types is emerging from labs like that of Aviv Regev at the Broad Institute, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which are applying recent advances in single-cell genomics to study individual cells at a speed and scale previously unthinkable. The technology applied at the Broad uses fluidic systems to separate cells on microscopic conveyor belts and then submits them to detailed genetic analysis, at the rate of thousands per day. Scientists expect such technologies to find use in medical applications where small differences between cells have big consequences, including cell-based drug screens, stem-cell research, cancer treatment, and basic studies of how tissues develop. Other labs are racing to produce their own surveys and improve the underlying technology.
Why Questions Are More Important Than Answers Why Questions Are More Important Than Answers by Terry Heick Clocks and old watches are miracles. Imagine the dogged pursuit of a proper clock-maker, day after day bound up in design and measurement and function and orderly thinking, forcing exactitude on little bits of metal that never asked for it. Get inside the mind of a clock-maker—one who still experiments with matters of design, improving their craft with minor revisions of planning and execution—and suddenly you’re seeing from ground zero how things come to be, first in a humble glow, then a blinding white starlight that bleaches everything. There’s a lesson here. The Irony of Bad Questions There is an irony to bad questions, in that they can be more difficult to answer than a good question. Questioning is the art of learning. So what makes a question bad? Produce a nice and tidy answer? Cause a student to reconsider a position? Force someone to go back and look more closely at how they know what they know? Assess understanding?
Acacia plant controls ants with chemical Plants have systems for keeping their six-legged inhabitants in check In Africa and in the tropics, armies of tiny creatures make the twisting stems of acacia plants their homes. Aggressive, stinging ants feed on the sugary nectar the plant provides and live in nests protected by its thick bark. This is the world of "ant guards". The acacias might appear overrun by them, but the plants have the ants wrapped around their little stems. These same plants that provide shelter and produce nourishing nectar to feed the insects also make chemicals that send them into a defensive frenzy, forcing them into retreat. Nigel Raine, a scientist working at Royal Holloway, University of London in the UK has studied this plant-ant relationship. Dr Raine and his colleagues from the universities of St Andrews, Edinburgh and Reading in the UK and Lund University in Sweden have been trying to work out some of the ways in which the insects and the acacias might have co-evolved. Give and take Selective deterrents
Why upgrading your brain could make you less human | Aeon Ideas Within the lifetimes of most children today, bioenhancement is likely to become a basic feature of human society. Personalised pharmaceuticals will enable us to modify our bodies and minds in powerful and precise ways, with far fewer side-effects than today’s drugs. New brain-machine interfaces will improve our memory and cognition, extend our senses, and confer direct control over an array of semi-intelligent gadgets. Genetic and epigenetic modification will allow us to change our physical appearance and capabilities, as well as to tweak some of the more intangible aspects of our being such as emotion, creativity or sociability. Do you find these ideas disquieting? One of the more insidious effects of such self-editing is that it will blur the boundary between persons and things. But if we’re not careful, we ignore the fact that these ‘products’ are altering key aspects of a human being’s selfhood. Get Aeon straight to your inbox So, what can you do?
binary