“Most computer scientists think that consciousness is a characteristic that will emerge as technology develops. Some believe that consciousness involves accepting new information, storing and retrieving old information, and cognitive processing of it all into perceptions and actions. If that’s right, then one day machines will indeed be the ultimate consciousness. They’ll be able to gather more information than a human, store more than many libraries, access vast databases in milliseconds, and compute all of it into decisions more complex, and yet more logical, than any person ever could.”
Category: ideas
When People Claim They’re Defending Against A ‘War On Christmas’, What Exactly Is It They’re Fighting For?
Adam Gopnik: “Christmas has always been a happily mixed-up holiday for mixed-up people and confused cultures. It is, at its roots, the very model of a pagan-secular-synthetic festival as much as it is a religious one – just the kind, in fact, that the imaginary anti-Christmas forces are supposed to favor.”
The Year We Fell Out Of Love With Algorithms
Algorithms that amplify fear and help foreign powers put a finger on the scale of democracy? These things sound dangerous! That’s a shift from just a few years ago, when “algorithm” primarily signified modernity and intelligence, thanks to the roaring success of tech companies such as Google—an enterprise founded upon an algorithm for ranking web pages.
Research: Why People Won’t Pay As Much For Digital Goods (Even If They’re Better)
“Despite the many advantages conferred by digital goods, comparable versions of physical goods are valued more. When a physical good such as a paper book, a printed photograph, or a DVD is digitized, it loses some of its value to buyers. Our experiments suggest that the key driver of this value loss is not the resale value of the good, or how much it costs to make, or how long it can be used, or whether it’s unique or popular. We find that the key difference is that digital goods do not facilitate the same feeling of ownership that physical goods do.”
On Cultivating A Sense Of “Aliveness”
“Think of the way that life really can become lifeless. You know what it’s like: rise, commute, work, lunch, work some more, maybe have a beer or go to the gym, watch TV. For a while the routine is nurturing and stabilizing; it is comfortable in its predictability. But soon the days seem to stretch out in an infinite line behind and before you. And eventually you are withering away inside them. They are not just devoid of meaning but ruthless in their insistence that they are that way. The life you are living announces it is no longer alive. There are at least two natural, but equally flawed, responses to this announcement: constantly seek out newness or look for a stable, deeper meaning to your existing routine.”
How Very Smart Thinkers Have Been Seduced By Big Brother
Perhaps we should blame it all on Plato. Ever since he introduced his concept of the “philosopher king,” countless intellectuals have been besotted by the notion of finding and working hand in hand with the ideal Big Brother, often with lethal results.
How Traveling To Learn Lost Its Edge
“In a world where travel has lost many of its mental and physical exertions, one meets people who fly thousands of miles to do a bit of shopping in Dubai, to lie on a beach in Bali, or to watch a cricket match in Adelaide… Some travellers travel enormous distances and keep all their preconceptions intact.”
Let Go Of The Guilt – Science Has Officially Approved The Practice Of Re-Gifting
Kate Wheeling: “It’s that time of year again: The day after Christmas. The holiday-season stress is over; the only thing to worry about now is what you’re going to do with that pair of Sauna Pants from Aunt Midge, who, bless her heart, still hasn’t grown out of her as-seen-on-TV phase. I’m here to tell you that science says you can just give them away. You’re welcome.”
Defend The Humanities? Why?
Vulgar conservative critiques of the humanities are usually given the greatest exposure, and yet at the same time, it is often political (and religious) conservatives who have labored the most mightily to foster traditional humanistic disciplines in schools. Left defenders of the humanities have defended their value in the face of an increasingly corporate and crudely economic world, and yet they have also worked to gut some of the core areas of humanistic enquiry—“Western civ and all that”—as indelibly tainted by patriarchy, racism, and colonialism. So the humanities have both Left and Right defenders, Left and Right critics.
How Does Google Maps Work? Ask A Cartographer Who Helped Design Apple Maps
Google Maps now has buildings all over the place – in small, rural towns; in capital cities; in large cities – even down to the level of their HVAC roof details. Meanwhile, Apple Maps is a tad behind: It “doesn’t have them in the majority of U.S. state capitals.” But why?