NASA has been monitoring a strange anomaly in Earth’s magnetic field: a giant region of lower magnetic intensity in the skies above the planet, stretching out between South America and southwest Africa.
This vast, developing phenomenon, called the South Atlantic Anomaly, has intrigued and concerned scientists for years, and perhaps none more so than NASA researchers.
The space agency’s satellites and spacecraft are particularly vulnerable to the weakened magnetic field strength within the anomaly, and the resulting exposure to charged particles from the Sun.
A non-technical introduction to platonism in the philosophy of mathematics.
Philosophy of mathematics is important, especially for philosophers interested in metaphysics. Suppose, for instance, you have nominalist tendencies, and you argue against the existence of abstract objects. Well, probably the most important kind of abstract objects are found in mathematics. Any serious nominalist needs to give an account of them.
Yet philosophy of mathematics is also, for obvious reasons, quite technical, and it can be pretty daunting for those who have less mathematical training. Nevertheless, I think the basic arguments can be made accessible to anyone who’s interested, and that’s what I’ve tried to do in this video.
For further reading on phil of mathematics, I recommend: “Thinking About Mathematics” by Stewart Shapiro and “Introducing Philosophy of Mathematics” by Michele Friend. These are both fairly orthodox introductions. For an introduction that focuses more on contemporary issues (it has just a few pages devoted to formalism, logicism, and intuitionism, yet a whole chapter on paraconsistent mathematics), I recommend “An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mathematics” by Mark Colyvan.
A Journey to the Edge of Time and Space. Visit our sponsor, Brilliant: https://brilliant.org/IsaacArthur/ As we continue our look at Generation Ships, vast vessels designed to carry many thousands of colonists to distant and alien worlds centuries away, we must ask just how far and how long such ships can be made to last? Can space ships be made that will endure even longer voyages of thousands or even millions of years in the void of interstellar or even intergalactic space? Will ships, and their crews, fall apart or turn into Cargo Cults who no longer remember how their technology functions or what their mission was?
Is a generation ship the key to interstellar travel? Explore the challenges of building and sustaining a massive spacecraft for multiple generations in this thought-provoking video. From technical hurdles to ethical dilemmas, discover the truth behind our dreams of colonizing distant worlds.
Even if an android’s appearance is so realistic that it could be mistaken for a human in a photograph, watching it move in person can feel a bit unsettling. It can smile, frown, or display other various, familiar expressions, but finding a consistent emotional state behind those expressions can be difficult, leaving you unsure of what it is truly feeling and creating a sense of unease.
Until now, when allowing robots that can move many parts of their face, like androids, to display facial expressions for extended periods, a “patchwork method” has been used. This method involves preparing multiple pre-arranged action scenarios to ensure that unnatural facial movements are excluded while switching between these scenarios as needed.
However, this poses practical challenges, such as preparing complex action scenarios beforehand, minimizing noticeable unnatural movements during transitions, and fine-tuning movements to subtly control the expressions conveyed.
The Last Question is a short story by Isaac Asimov which details the evolution of humanity and our journey to answering the one question that will determine the fate of the universe.
