Technology Doesn’t Dumb Us Down. It Frees Our Minds.

NYTimes.com Technology Doesn’t Dumb Us Down. It Frees Our Minds. - : "It is hard to think of a technology that wasn’t feared when it was introduced. In his Atlantic article, Mr. Carr says that Socrates feared the impact that writing would have on man’s ability to think. The advent of the printing press summoned similar fears. It wouldn’t be the last time."

"When Hewlett-Packard invented the HP-35, the first hand-held scientific calculator, in 1972, the device was banned from some engineering classrooms. Professors feared that engineers would use it as a crutch, that they would no longer understand the relationships that either penciled calculations or a slide rule somehow provided for proficient scientific thought.

"But the HP-35 hardly stultified engineering skills. Instead, in the last 36 years those engineers have brought us iPods, cellphones, high-definition TV and, yes, Google and Twitter. It freed engineers from wasting time on mundane tasks so they could spend more time creating.

10 future shocks for the next 10 years

InfoWorld 10 future shocks for the next 10 years: "The past 30 years of InfoWorld's existence have seen a series of future shocks, from the ascent of the personal computer to horrifying strains of malware to the sizzling sex appeal of the iPhone. In honor of InfoWorld's 30th anniversary, we've decided to take a playful look ahead at the future shocks that could occur in the next 10 years (30 years seemed a little too sci-fi)."

Robot assistant gives surgeons a cutting look

New Scientist Tech 24 September 2008 Robot assistant gives surgeons a cutting look: "The surgeon's eyes dart to the left, and instantly a robotic laser shifts position and gets to work on a new section of tissue. No, this is not telekinesis, but a new eye-tracking technology that could soon be giving surgeons a hand during tricky procedures.

"The device has been integrated into a da Vinci surgical robot - a tool that allows surgeons to perform keyhole procedures by mimicking their hand movements. However, according to a team from the Hamlyn Centre for Robotic Surgery at Imperial College London, surgeons often need more than two hands when it comes to positioning additional instruments such as endoscopes or lasers."

Wall Street's collapse may be computer science's gain

Computerworld Wall Street's collapse may be computer science's gain: "The collapse of Wall Street may help make computer science and IT careers attractive to students who abandoned these fields in droves after the pop of the last big bubble, the dot-com bust of 2001.

"William Dally, chairman of the computer science department at Stanford University, said that for the last several years, he has watched some students interested in technology go into banking and finance because those fields could be more lucrative.

"'Many thought they could make more money in hedge funds,' Dally said. He said students are returning to computer science because they like the field and not because it can necessarily make them rich.

"John Gallaugher, associate professor of information systems in the Carroll School of Management at Boston College, said he's already seeing a shift in student interest.

"'Students have commented to me and written on their course wikis that they're considering changing from finance [majors], both based on the appeal of IS and concern over availability of finance jobs' in the future, Gallaugher said."

GR: I like the trend -- choose computer science because you love it, not just to get rich (although employment trends are strong!)

Technology could have prevented train crash

The Associated Press Technology could have prevented train crash: "The system known as positive train control monitors train location and speed using satellite-based positioning systems and digital communication. It can engage the brakes if a train fails to heed signals or gets on the wrong track."

Should technology be given more autonomy, to overrule human error?

Blog post on Study CS! describes new game

Here is a great blog post on the blog Study CS! about a 'Warcraft' Sequel Lets Gamers Play A Character Playing 'Warcraft'

Hmmm, I have a new idea for a virtual online world in which people play characters who post blog posts on virtual virtual blogs.

'Warcraft' Sequel Lets Gamers Play A Character Playing 'Warcraft'

The Onion - America's Finest News Source reports on a 'Warcraft' Sequel that lets gamers play a character playing 'Warcraft'...

I can't wait for World of World of World of Warcraft!

First Humanoid Robot That Will Develop Language

First Humanoid Robot That Will Develop Language May Be Coming Soon: "iCub, a one metre-high baby robot which will be used to study how a robot could quickly pick up language skills, will be available next year."

"ITALK aims to teach the robot to speak by employing the same methods used by parents to teach their children. Professor Nehaniv and Professor Dautenhahn, who are European leaders in Artificial Intelligence and Human Robot Interaction, will conduct experiments in human and robot language interaction to enable the robot to converse with humans.

"Typical experiments with the iCub robot will include activities such as inserting objects of various shapes into the corresponding holes in a box, serialising nested cups and stacking wooden blocks. Next, the iCub will be asked to name objects and actions so that it acquires basic phrases such as "robot puts stick on cube".

A Market Decline in Search of a Reason - NYTimes.com

A Market Decline in Search of a Reason - NYTimes.com: "Stocks on Wall Street plunged on Thursday, but few investors seemed to know why.

A broad sell-off sent the Dow Jones industrial average down 260 points in afternoon trading, hours after the government reported that the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week."

See I told you the market was crashing

Where are the researchers for AI with a conscience?

From KurzweilAI.net Are AI researchers looking for intelligence at the expense of morality?

J. Storrs Hall: "Most existing AI research is completely pragmatic, without any reference to moral structures in cognitive architectures. That is to be expected: just getting the darn thing to be intelligent is as hard a problem as we can handle now, and there is time enough to worry about the brakes after the engine is working. As I noted before, much of the most advanced research is sponsored by the military or corporations. In the military, the notion of an autonomous machine being able to question its orders on moral grounds is anathema. In corporate industry, the top goal seems likely to be the financial benefit of the company. Thus, the current probable sources of AI will not adhere to a universally adopted philanthropic formulation, such as Asimov's Three Laws. The reasonable assumption then is that a wide variety of AIs with differing goal structures will appear in the coming decades."

Virtual Reality Gets Real: Augmented Reality

ScienceDaily (Aug. 18, 2008) — "Up to now virtual reality has proved cumbersome as a design tool, but European researchers are finalising a system that brings ‘virtuality’ to the wider world.

"Virtual reality (VR) is a powerful tool, but its true potential remains unrealised. Applications mixing the virtual and real worlds, called mixed or augmented reality (AR), are weak. There are few reliable systems, and what exists are very expensive. Collaboration is limited and still relatively unsophisticated. And the state of the art is anchored to the desktop or multi-tiled, or multi-screen, displays. Both are fixed solutions.

"But VR and AR could do so much more. They could enable onsite sketching of a proposed building design, to reveal the real-world impact on the cityscape, or allow teams to review, annotate and amend proposed and existing car designs. The technology could enable engineers and designers to collaborate with other, distant teams. And it could pave the way even for consumers to contribute to production of better, more successful products."

Avatars deserve nice hair, too

ScienceDaily (Aug. 22, 2008) — University of California, San Diego today announced a new method for accurately capturing the shape and appearance of a person’s hairstyle. The results closely match the real hairstyles and can be used for animation.

"Imagine avatars of your favorite actors wandering through 3D virtual worlds with hair that looks almost exactly like it does in real life. This level of realism for animated hairstyles is one step closer to the silver screen, thanks to new research being presented at SIGGRAPH, one of the most competitive computer graphics conferences in the world. The breakthrough is a collaboration between researchers at UC San Diego, Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq: ADBE) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"The computer graphics researchers captured the shape and appearance of hairstyles of real people using multiple cameras, light sources and projectors. The computer scientists then created algorithms to “fill in the blanks” and generate photo-realistic images of the ha"

Kidney Surgically Removed Using Robotics

ScienceDaily (Aug. 25, 2008) Kidney Surgically Removed Using 3-D Robotics Through Single Incision: "For the first time in Michigan, a diseased kidney has been surgically removed at Henry Ford Hospital using highly sophisticated 3D robotics through a single incision."

"We traditionally try to save the kidney for smaller tumors, performing a robotic partial nephrectomy", says Dr. Rogers. "For larger tumors, however, patients would get a very large incision on their side. Now, we can remove kidneys with cancer through a single three- inch incision near the patient's belly button."

"The potential benefits to performing the SIRS nephrectomy are improved cosmetics, quicker recovery times, less scarring and blood loss.

Automated writing tutor assists, outperforms human experts

NEWTOWN, Pa., Aug 18, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE)

"Twenty four districts have decided to use MY Access! this school year after teachers, directors and administrators from across the state saw a marked improvement in student performance.

"... students write an essay based on a teacher's assignment, and submit it to the Web-based system. The program instantly analyzes over 350 semantic, syntactic, and discourse characteristics, and scores the students on focus and meaning, organization, content and development, language use and style, mechanics and conventions, and overall writing proficiency."

The program, called MyAccess, "...instantly scores the essays on a scale of one to six. This provides immediate feedback to students, and saves teachers valuable grading time so they can focus on personalized, targeted student instruction instead. Students are engaged and motivated by immediate remedial instruction. And teachers say MY Access! scores are more accurate than expert human scorers, giving educators the time and confidence to focus on one-on-one instruction instead of paper-grading."

"Students are engaged and motivated by immediate remedial instruction. And teachers say MY Access! scores are more accurate than expert human scorers, giving educators the time and confidence to focus on one-on-one instruction instead of paper-grading. That's the kind of help teachers in Utah's schools need to assist them in managing large classrooms, many of which have up to 40 students."

MIT Helps Computers Think Like Humans

Information Week MIT Model Helps Computers Think Like Humans

"The researchers' algorithm lets computers use multiple approaches to examine data, much like the way humans size up the world."

"In a development that will extend the eternal quest of creating computers that think like humans, two researchers working at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a model that helps computers recognize patterns in the same way as humans do.

The two researchers, associate professor of brain and cognitive sciences Josh Tenenbaum and recent MIT PhD recipient Charles Kemp, produced a broad algorithm that examines several different approaches of looking at data that is similar to the way humans typically size up different situations."

Computer program gains ground in "go" competition

American Go Association "In a historic achievement, the MoGo computer program defeated Myungwan Kim 8P Thursday by 1.5 points in a 9-stone game. “It played really well,” said Kim, who estimated MoGo’s current strength at “two or maybe three dan,” though he noted that the program – which used 800 processors, at 4.7 Ghz, 15 Teraflops on borrowed supercomputers – “made some 5-dan moves,” like those in the lower right-hand corner, where Moyogo took advantage of a mistake by Kim to get an early lead. “I can’t tell you how amazing this is,” David Doshay -- the SlugGo programmer who suggested the match -- told the E-Journal after the game."