Humor can be quite useful.
Let’s see how.
Suppose you are having a bad day (I realize this seems a bit dour and gloomy, but the venerated gallantry of well-placed humor will turn this around, wait and see).
Facebook has been rife with “Star Trek” Thanksgiving memes for the last week or more which in and of itself is puzzling. “Star Trek” is hardly the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about when commemorating the first harvest feast shared by this country’s Pilgrim colonists and local Native Americans.
But it’s reasonable to assert that “Star Trek” and Thanksgiving are at least tangentially linked since the latter is a celebration of home and hearth whereas “Star Trek” is a celebration of humankind’s exploration of the cosmos. Certainly, this time of year represents an ideal time of year to be thankful for home and shelter.
As for “Star Trek”?
Continue reading “‘Star Trek’ Meme Reminds Us To Be Thankful For Earth Itself” »
T turns out Britain was ripe for the birth of the Industrial Revolution.
Why did the Industrial Revolution begin in Britain? Was it because they are particularly ingenious and industrial people or just a happenstance of history?
Various theories have been proposed over time, but which, if any, hit the nail on the head?
Continue reading “Why Did the Industrial Revolution Start in Britain?” »
And the prototype design is already completed.
China’s space program has completed a prototype design for a powerful nuclear reactor, a report from the South China Morning Post reveals.
The country’s space program is building the device to keep up with other space agencies that have also drawn plans to go nuclear, such as NASA, which recently made a call for private firms to develop a nuclear fission system to power missions on the Moon within 10 years.
Continue reading “China’s New Space Nuclear Reactor Might Be 100 Times More Powerful Than NASA’s” »
Deepsea submersible diving could compete with space tourism.
A form of luxury tourism is hitting the deep sea thanks to a small handful of firms providing state-of-the-art private submersibles to high-paying customers.
Continue reading “Could Luxury Submarine Trips Thrive as an Alternative to Space Tourism?” »
Deep Learning: Alchemy or Science?
Topic: The Epistemology of Deep Learning.
Speaker: Yann LeCun.
Affiliation: Facebook AI Research/New York University.
Date: February 22, 2019
Continue reading “The Epistemology of Deep Learning — Yann LeCun” »
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Everything we do as living organisms is dependent, in some capacity, on time. The concept is so complex that scientists still argue whether it exists or if it is an illusion. In this video, astrophysicist Michelle Thaller, science educator Bill Nye, author James Gleick, and neuroscientist Dean Buonomano discuss how the human brain perceives of the passage of time, the idea in theoretical physics of time as a fourth dimension, and the theory that space and time are interwoven. Thaller illustrates Einstein’s theory of relativity, Buonomano outlines eternalism, and all the experts touch on issues of perception, definition, and experience. Check Dean Buonomano’s latest book Your Brain Is a Time Machine: The Neuroscience and Physics of Time at https://amzn.to/2GY1n1z.
Continue reading “Time: Do the past, present, and future exist all at once? | Big Think” »
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What does it mean when someone calls you smart or intelligent? According to developmental psychologist Howard Gardner, it could mean one of eight things. In this video interview, Dr. Gardner addresses his eight classifications for intelligence: writing, mathematics, music, spatial, kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal.
Recent projects used machine learning to resurrect paintings by Klimt and Rembrandt. They raise questions about what computers can understand about art.
Full Story:
IN 1945, FIRE claimed three of Gustav Klimt’s most controversial paintings. Commissioned in 1,894 for the University of Vienna, “the Faculty Paintings”—as they became known—were unlike any of the Austrian symbolist’s previous work. As soon as he presented them, critics were in an uproar over their dramatic departure from the aesthetics of the time. Professors at the university rejected them immediately, and Klimt withdrew from the project. Soon thereafter, the works found their way into other collections. During World War II, they were placed in a castle north of Vienna for safekeeping, but the castle burned down, and the paintings presumably went with it. All that remains today are some black-and-white photographs and writings from the time. Yet I am staring right at them.
Continue reading “Can AI Truly Give Us a Glimpse of Lost Masterpieces?” »
