02 MAR 2019 by ideonexus
Hawking Considers Computer Viruses Life
A living being like you or me usually has two elements: a set of instructions that tell the system how to keep going and how to reproduce itself, and a mechanism to carry out the instructions. In biology, these two parts are called genes and metabolism. But it is worth emphasising that there need be nothing biological about them. For example, a computer virus is a program that will make copies of itself in the memory of a computer, and will transfer itself to other computers. Thus it fits the...Folksonomies: life
Folksonomies: life
1 
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notes02 SEP 2016 by ideonexus
Learning Strengths: Map Readers and Explorers
I recognize Map Readers because they often like to work independently, but they are most comfortable when they have specifi c instructions or procedures to follow. Th ey often take more time and work deliberately, showing all their steps on homework or taking detailed notes in class or during group work. Explorers are the students who want to skip the detailed instructions and jump right into fi guring things out by trial and error. Th ese students are not likely to use estimation, even when ... 1 notes
notes21 JUN 2014 by ideonexus
A good game teaches you how to play it
What you eventually discover as you continue to play is that Portal is a
game about escaping from rooms that operate according to rules you are unaware
of. You learn that each room is a puzzle, increasingly booby-trapped,
and the game requires you to understand more and more complex physics in
order to get out. If you don’t teach yourself the physics of each new room—
that is, if you don’t learn the rules of the game—you’ll be stuck there forever,
listening to the AI system repeat h...Folksonomies: gamification
Folksonomies: gamification
1 notes
notes23 OCT 2013 by ideonexus
The Chinese Room Argument
Suppose that I'm locked in a room and given a large batch of Chinese
writing. Suppose furthermore (as is indeed the case) that I know no
Chinese, either written or spoken, and that I'm not even confident that I
could recognize Chinese writing as Chinese writing distinct from, say,
Japanese writing or meaningless squiggles. To me, Chinese writing is
just so many meaningless squiggles.
Now suppose further that after this first batch of Chinese writing I am
given a second batch of Chines... 1 notes
notesAn argument against the possibility of AI, replacing a computer with an english-speaking human being performing english-instructions on chinese symbols and outputting results. This is like a computer, which does not understand the symbols it is manipulating, but the results look intelligent.
03 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Alchemy VS Chemistry
He tapped the papers; the advice had been coming down since early winter. He remembered when Amdijefri had brought in the first pages, pages of numerical tables, of directions and diagrams, all drawn in neat but childish style. Steel and the Fragment had spent days trying to understand. Some of the references were obvious. The Visitor’s recipes required silver and gold in quantities that would otherwise finance a war. But what was this “liquid silver”? Tyrathect had recognized it; the M... 1 notes
notesAn alien from a mideval society receiving instructions to build advanced technology from aliens finds their directions full of digressions and careful methodologies to verify chemical compositions, where his alchemists' instructions are much more simple and poetic.
29 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
Computers Illustrate Our Slavery to Memes
nfestations of mind viruses that chain us to information terminals, frantically aiding the replication of information, may well take over if we don't intervene.
Do you think it's a far-fetched scenario of the future that humans could become slaves to a race of computers? Look inside any large office building and see how many people spend eight hours a day following the instructions on their display screen to the point of damaging their vision and injuring their hands from the strain. What ar... 1 notes
notesWe spend all day pushing and replicating memes online, slaving away at our computers.
