It Takes a Network to Defeat a Network

...the 9/11 attacks were carried out by one network on another network: al Qaeda against the U.S. financial and political system. Yet it was not the immediate damage of the terrorist attacks that inflicted the real cost on the United States so much as the unintended consequences of the national security state’s response. Writing in the Los Angeles Times in August 2002, before it was even clear that Iraq was to be invaded, the political scientist John Arquilla presciently pointed out the fla...

 Objective and Subjective Science

There are no better terms available to describe this difference between the approach of the natural and the social sciences than to call the former 'objective' and the latter 'subjective'.

 Red Queen Hypothesis of Computer Viruses

We know, historically, that the "walled garden" approach can have benefits during the early adopter phase. AOL's walled garden provided parental controls, security and organization of online content that was useful to introduce the Internet to mass adoption. But, as we know from IBM, AOL, Microsoft, Apple, etc., keeping the walls too high or for too long can hurt the relationship with consumers, distribution partners and other market participants. The day will come when viruses and other mal...

 The Problem of Machine-Aggregated Knowledge

he nuts and bolts of artificial-intelligence research can often be more usefully interpreted without the concept of AI at all. For example, in 2011, IBM scientists unveiled a “question answering” machine that is designed to play the TV quiz show Jeopardy. Suppose IBM had dispensed with the theatrics, and declared it had done Google one better and come up with a new phrase-based search engine. This framing of exactly the same technology would have gained IBM’s team as much (deserved) rec...

 Evolution in the Laboratory Occurs Very Quickly

One approach is to compare the rates of evolution in the fossil record with those seen in laboratory experiments that used artificial selection, or with historical data on evolutionary change that occurred when species colonized new habitats in historical times. If evolution in the fossil record were much faster than in laboratory experiments or colonization events—both of which involve very strong selection—we might need to rethink whether selection could explain changes in fossils. But ...

 How To Enjoy Science

But you do not have to be a scientist to experience this sort of satisfaction. Nor do you have to make a profession of science to develop scientific attitudes, which will make you a better and a happier citizen. Research in the broadest sense is more a habit of mind and a method of approach to problems than a specific technique. Certainly there is nothing esoteric about it (as I hope this book has demonstrated about clinical psychological research, at least). You can develop this sort of atti...